AN 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 



THE TOWNS 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, 



STALYBRIDGE, AND DUKINFIELD. 



BY EDWIN BUTTERWORTH, 

BUSK, NEAR OLDHAM. 



ASIITON : 

rniNTED BY T A. PHlLI.irS, STATIONEP, \. ., n?.I. r . . .v 




i 






PREFACE. 



The Author of these pages feels conscious that he 
has endeavoured, as far as his humble opj)ortuni- 
ties permitted, to supply a concise sketch of the 
History and Topography of Ashton-under-Lyne, 
Stalybridge, and Dukinfield ; therefore, scarcely 
any apology is necessary in introducing the book. 
A comprehensive local history is generally admitted 
to be useful ; and, if the present slight production 
should have the good fortune to be deemed to be 
in any way conducive to the public good, the wishes 
of the writer will be amply realized. 

Edwin Butterwortji. 

Bisk, Oldham, 

December 'Jlh, 1841. 



HISTORY, Sec. 



The Pakish of AsHXON-rxDER-LYXE is within the 
diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the 
deanery of Manchester ; the county palatine of Lancaster 
or Lancashire : the representative and assize division of 
South Lancashire ; the hundred of Salford ; the magis- 
terial division of Ashton-under-Lyne ; and the county 
division polling district of Ashton-under-Lyne. 

The Parish is in one of the south-eastern parts of the 
count}', bounded by the adjacent parishes of two adjoining 
counties — Yorkshire and Cheshire. On the north-east, 
a brook separates it from the district of Quick, in the 
parochial chapelry of Saddleworth, in the county of 
York. On the east, the river Tame divides it from the 
hamlet of Micklehurst, in Tintwistle, and the township of 
Staley, both in the parish of Mottram-in-Longdendale, in 
the county palatine of Chester ; on the south, the same 
stream marks its limits from the township of Dukinfield, 
in the parish of Stockport, likewise in Cheshire. The 
Tame afterwards winding to the south, becomes the 
south-east boundary of the parish, where it is bordered 
by Dukinfield, in the parish and county just named. On 
the south-south-west, the district is bounded by the 
township of Haughton, and the to^\Tlship and chapelry of 



4 HISTORY OF 

Denton ; on the south-west, by the township and chapehy 
of Gorton ; on tlie west, by the townships of Droylsden 
and Failsworth. Haughton, Denton, Gorton, Droylsden, 
and Failsworth, are in the parish of Manchester. On the 
north, the parish is bounded by the township, parochial 
chapelry, and borough of Oldham. The north-north- 
east, north-north-west, west, and south-west boundary 
lines are chiefly imaginary. The form of this parochial 
tract is nearly a square, rendered oblong by a narrow 
arm on the north-east, intervening betwixt Oldham and 
Saddle worth, and a broader portion on the south-west, 
projecting betmxt Gorton and Dukinfield. 

The length of the Parish, from Shepley Hall, at the 
south-south-west extremity, to Cross, at the north-north- 
east limit, is estimated at six and a half computed miles ; 
the hreadth^ from Cat- Alley, near the west border, to 
Bottoms, at the eastern verge, is about five miles. The 
breadth of the north-east limb is generally about a quarter 
of a mile ; and of the south-west angle upwards of a mile 
and a half. 

The entire surface of the district comprises, cus- 
tomary, 4,208^ acres^ as ascertained in the survey made 
for the assessment of a fifteenth on each estate, in 15th 
James I. The number of statute acres is about 9,300. 

There are four principal divisions in the parish, viz. : 
Ashton Town, Hartshead, Knott-Lanes, and Audenshaw. 
Ashton Town (now a parliamentary borough) is the most , 
populous, yet the smallest; no ]>ortion of it being above 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. O 

a mile from the centre of the town. It is on tlie south 
side of the parish, lined on the south hy the river Tame, 
and possesses no subordinate divisions as yet. Harts- 
head, the largest of the four divisions, stretches to the 
east, north-east, and north of the town, extending to the 
centre of the parish. It contains the inferior districts 
or hamlets of Luzley-with-Lanes, (including a portion of 
the town of Stalybridge), Mossley, Hartshead, Hazle- 
hurst, Lyme, Smallshaw, and Hurst. Knott-Lanes is of 
irregular form, narrow in its north-east and south-west 
parts, and expanding in the centre : it is situated to tlie 
north and north-east of the tovm, and is detached from 
Ashton Town division by parts of Hartshead and Auden- 
shaw. Its sub-divisions are Cross Bank, Lees, Thornlee- 
cum-High Knowles, Alt Edge, Alt, Alt Hill, and Park. 
Audenshaw extends over the whole of the western side 
of the parish, and lies north-west, west, and south-west 
of the town. It is divided into Shepley, Little Moss, 
Waterhouses, and Woodhouses, vills or hamlets. — The 
sub-'districts mentioned here are those enumerated in the 
Fifteenth Book ; and, strictly speaking, they are still the 
only proper divisions ; but an increase of population has 
added to the number of villages, whence we find, in the 
assessment books of the last and present century-, nume- 
rous places of modem growth represented as hamlets, or 
inscribed as villages, that have taken the lead of their 
several divisions, or, in name, superseded such of the 
ancient spots as have not increased to an equal degree of 
consequence. — Dr. Aikin and Mr. Baines have stated the 
following places, all of recent creation, as hamlets of 
Ashton-under-L}-ne : — Boston, Charlestown, (adjacent to 

B 2 



6 IIISTOHY OF 

and now part of Ashton Town), Stalybridge, Sour Acre, 
(not, as often erroneously written, Tower Acre), Hey 
Chapel, and Hooley-Hill. Stalybridge, Ridgeliill-Lane, 
and Sour Acre, are parts of the ancient hamlet of Luzley- 
with-Lanes. Hey or Hey Chapel is a modern portion of 
the ancient hamlet of Lees, now commonly expressed 
Lees-cum-Hey. Knott-Lanes and Wood Park hamlets 
have been taken from the ancient hamlet of Park a 
considerable time. The name of Knott-Lanes, as applied 
to a division, is ancient ; but, as used for a village or ham- 
let, modern. So it is with Audenshaw : the division is 
of considerable antiquity, but the village or hamlet of 
that name is comparatively modern. The hamlets or 
villages of Audenshaw and Hooley-PIill are portions of 
the ancient hamlet of Shepley. 

The ToAVN and Bokough of Ashton-under-Lyne are 
situated within the division of the town. The borough 
and division are co-extensive. The tow^i occupies the 
greater part of the division, and is built upon the flat 
of an extending eminence, which is steep on the south, 
and rises from the northern bank of the river Tame. 

The town is upwards of five miles from Cross Bank, 
the most distant part of the parish, to the north-north- 
east ; two and a half miles from Wood Park, the northern 
extremity ; two miles or upwards from Buckley-Hill, 
the western point ; about two miles from the termination 
of Hooley-Hill, the south-west verge; and the same 
distance from Heyrod, at the eastern limit. The respec- 
tive distances from the surrounding towns are 5^ miles 



ASHTON-XJNDER-LYNE. / 

east of Manchester : 1 mile west of Stalybridge ; 4 miles 
south of Oldham ; 7 miles north-north-east of Stockport : 
3^ miles north of Hyde; and 186 north-west of London. 
The geographical position of the site is in north latitude 
53^ 25, and west longitude 2^ 8. 

The derivation of the term Ashton is apparently 
satisfactory ; the Estitn of the ancients in inquisitions 
and surveys of the county, being manifestly formed of 
fpyc, an ash, and tun, an enclosed place or town ; the 
enclosed dun or tun ton of Ashes. In the era when a 
Saxon chief fixed upon the mount the first habitance of 
the subsequent Thanes of Ashton-under-Lyne, the preci- 
pitous banks of the Tame were doubtless deeply shrouded 
by the ash. It is difficult to determine the origin of the 
affix " Under Lyne, or Line." Dr. Ormerod, the learned 
historian, of Cheshire, is of opinion that it is so termed 
owing to the situation of it below the Lime of Cheshire. 
The designation Ashton sub Lima, used in Sir John de 
Assheton's rent roll, appears to give countenance to the 
conjecture of the Doctor. The fact of Ashton never 
having been recorded as subordinate to Lime in any 
I manner bears strongly against the accuracy of this idea ; 
and still the Asshetons and Leghs, of Lime, were closely 
connected with each other. By a decree of the Earl of 
i Derby, 1 1 Henr}- VII., ^' Sir Piers Lygh and his heires 
I shall or mowe here ye same armes whartly, so they be 
not in the first quarter, as Sir Thos. de Assheton, with 
a bezant of gold, kc, for difference.'*^ In this instance 

I * ^N'hitaker's Richmondshire, foUo 24G, vol. 2, adtns., 1823. 

B 3 



8 HISTORY OF 

the Leghs procure licence to have armorial bearing 
similar to the Asshetons, implying a supelriority in the 
latter family. In an early survey of Manchester Manor, 
(Harl. MSS., Codex 2085, fol. 527, b. Baines' 4to.,) 
the manner of expression is " Ash ton subter lineam," — 
Ashton-under-Line. The river Tame was, for a time, 
the boundary of the Saxon Heptarchial kingdoms of 
Northumbria and Mercia ; and the affix may have arisen 
from the situation upon the line of division. The foun- 
dation of the place is to be attributed to the Saxons ; and, 
therefore, to endeavour to trace the designation to the 
Roman period is, perhaps, to enter upon a time when 
this tract was nameless. Manchester, in Lancashire, 
and Aldmondbury, in Yorkshire, were stations of the 
Romans; and, in order to connect these towns, the 
conquerors were obliged to construct a road through the 
higher part of the tract of country which was afterwards 
the Parish of Ashton-under-Lyne. Remains of this road 
are still existing at Street, in the adjoining township of 
Failsworth. The better to facilitate the opening of the 
forests, and the subjugation of the natives, the legions 
threw up a trench across the hills, in a line with the iter. 
The Saxons, under feelings of admiration and lasting 
impression of the magnitude of this work, were induced 
to impart the distinguished appellative of Under Lyne, or 
beneath the trench. The name Lime is still perpetuated 
in the parish, in Limehurst ; and it was anciently the 
denomination of an hamlet, no longer recognised. This 
hamlet might have been of more importance than the 
Eston of the Saxons, supposing Lime to have been the 
abode of a Saxon baron, the paramount lord of Eston. 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. » 

In the Book of Assessment of a Fiftecntli, temp. James 
the First, Ashton and Lyme appear to be deemed of 
equal magnitude. The utility of this disthictive is mani- 
fest on beai'ing in mind the Large number of places of 
tlie name of Ashton. 

The History of Ashton-under-Lyne is not barren of 
interest ; the succession of the lords of this mesne barony, 
and a description of the customs and services of their 
dependants, form amusing traits of the feudal character. 
Dr. Aikin, Dr. Hibbert, and jNIr. Baines, have hitherto 
been the principal writers on the topography of the parish : 
their articles illustrative of this subject are of a vigorous 
and comprehensive style. 

The Rev. John Whitaker, historian of Manchester, 
an ingenious and singularly entertaining antiquary, asserts 
Ashton and other adjoining parishes to have been the 
tirst portions of Lancashire inhabited by the Setantii, or 
dwellers amidst the country of the waters, a wandering 
tribe, whom he believes to have invaded this part of the 
province five hundred years before the birth of Chi'ist ! 
The Druids were tlie priests of the Setantii and the other 
native tribes ; and such of the priesthood as committed 
to memory by metre the distinguished acts of the chiefs, 
were called the Bards. The eai'ly mansion of Bardsley 
is conjectured to have been the field or grove of the 
Druidical bards. The antiquities of the parish connected 
with the remote era of druidism were in existence within 
memor\', and consisted of two cucuLar basons wrought 
out of solid rock. The Medlock now flows over part of 



10 HISTORY OF 

the rock. The larger is yet discoverable below a weir 
or dam at the coal-works in Rocher Vale, Knott-Lanes ; 
it is six feet in diameter and three in depth. The smaller, 
now buried under an embankment, is perfectly circular 
and smooth within, and is represented to be of the some- 
what extraordinary dimensions of nine inches in width 
and eighteen feet in depth. Several circumstances indi- 
cate that they have been wrought by art for druidical rites. 
According to Borlase, such basons were for " lustrations 
and purifications by water." These remains were known 
by the common name of Pots and Pans. A cell, once 
inhabited as a human dwelling, was excavated out of 
rock on the summit of a perpendicular cliif overlooking 
Rocher Vale. The legend of the hamlet points to this 
lone spot as the scene of a tragical deed, perpetrated upon 
a female. The works of the Romans have been already 
associated with the history of the parish. The Roman 
way from Manchester to Aldmondbury skirted the section 
of the parochial tract called Lyme or Line, and after 
traversing Oldham entered Ashton-under-Lyne parish 
near Lees, passed Hey (not Haigh chapel as erroneously 
written) chapel, and immediately afterwards entered 
Saddleworth. 

The Kinderton, Stockport, and Almondbury iter passed 
the south-eastern borders of the parish. Mr. Whitaker 
says *' this way extended into Ashton parish, near the 
foot of Stalybridge, was the third road from the station, 
(Stockport) and is denominated Staley-street for a mile 
together." The first sentence is obviously incorrect, for 
the direct line would be through Staley, on the opposite 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYXE. 1 1 

side of the Tame, and therefore not through Ashton. 
There cannot be a doubt as to the certain bearhig of this 
way all along the Staley side of the Valley of the Tame. 

I have alluded to the Tame as the line of division of 
the early Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. 

Dr. Dunham ^Vhitaker contends that the Ribble 
separated these small states. It is not improbable that 
both rivers were the boimdaries at different periods. 

This is the era in which there is much reason to place 
the erection of the rudely fortified abode of a Northum- 
brian chief, and of the huts of his serfs, on the summit 
of JEiSdun^ the hill of ash trees. 

Ashton was originally included in the Saxon parish 
of Manchester, not only in its ecclesiastical, but also in 
its civil character. The first edifice of christian worship 
was a chapel of Manchester, and the first Saxon pos- 
sessor held the manor in fee of the greater lord of 
Manchester. In this manner the lordship and the parish 
became co-extensive ; the ordinary parity of spiritual and 
secular possessions was created by this almost universal 
istom of early times. In modern days there are 
numerous exceptions to the rule ; but in Ashton-under- 
Lyne, after upwards of nine centuries have passed away, 
the parish and the manor continue of equal extent or 
nearly so. 

The name of Canute is traceable in the abbreviated 



\Z HISTORY OF 

corrupted A^ute or Knott-lanes, Knott-liill, &c. The 
tradition of the parish is, that the Danish conqueror 
crossed it in his way from the west to the east seas. 
Bottomley, the topographer of Saddleworth, has marked 
Knott-hill, in Saddleworth, as the spot where the hero of 
the descendants of the Frisian Goths harangued his 
fatigued troops. 

William, the Norman, laid prostrate Danish usurpation 
and Saxon policy. The Saxons who dared to dispute 
his will were quickly despatched : those who implicitly 
submitted are the mesne lords denominated drenches in 
domesday book. The Saxon lord of Eston was ap- 
parently of the former and larger number. The great 
barons of the Norman chief distributed their vast pos- 
sessions to their immediate dependants, the lesser barons; 
who provided for a still more inferior class : and these in 
their turn parcelled out the land to the tenantry, all 
holding in fee from their superior ; the lower the rank, 
the more degrading was the nature of the subjection. 
Roger of Poictou, or Rogerius Pictavensis, was para- 
mount lord of the land betwixt Ribble and Mersey, and 
afterwards of all Lancashire : he may be said to have 
been the founder of the great Barony, Earldom, and Duchy 
of Lancaster. Of his lesser barons was Albert Grelle, 
who held in fee the barony and parish of Manchester, to 
which the manor and chapel of Ashton-under-Lyne were 
appurtenant. Robertus Grelle has been represented as 
the first Norman grantee of Eston from Roger of Poictou, 
but this now appears to be incorrect. Emma, the daugh- 
ter of Albert, married Ormeus Fitz-Eward or Ailward, on 



ASIITOX-rXDER-LYNE. 13 

whom Albert settled Eston as part of the marriage por- 
tion, to be held by him as superior lord At the time of 
making the inquisition which was the basis of the Testa 
de Novilh it was found that the land in Eston acquired 
by Orm in this marriasre was a carucate (about one 
hundred acres) ; and it is held by Orm and his heirs on 
condition of yielding a rent of ten shillings per annum to 
the Baron of Manchester. The passage subjoined is 
from the Testa de Xevill, p. 404, and forms the first 
notice of the manor after the conquest ; for Domesday 
Book is silent on this head. 

" Albtus Gredle senior dedit Orm fil' Eward h. filia sua 
Emma in maritag' una caruc' Tre' in Eston p xs. p aiinu 
heredes ipsius Orm' tenent Tram illam." 

The remainder of the marriage portion consisted of a 
knight's fee (480 acres) in Dalton, (Wigan parish) 
Parbold, and Wrightington, (Eccleston in Leyland 
parish) members of the Barony of Manchester. 

Ormeus, the Norman, fixed his residence at Ashton- 

under-Lyne, and is designated Orme de Assheton. He 

was the parent of a knightly race, whose descendants, in 

the female line, have nearly attained the summit of 

English nobility. By Emma, daughter of Albertus Grelle, 

the paramount lord, he left issue two sons, Roger and 

Thomas. Ormeus is conjectured to have been living in 

the reign of Heniy the First. His eldest son, Robert or 

la Roger de Assheton, sometimes styled de Wrightington, 

■ received from Albertus Juvenis Grelle, a confirma- 

B tion of the grant of Albertus, senior, of a carucate of 

9 



14 HISTORY OF 

Assheton ; and also a grant in fee of all As she ton. (Dr. 
Keurden's MSS., fo. 262) Roger, now termed Roger 
Fitz Orm de Ash ton, inspired by the piety of his age, 
gave to God, St. Mary, and the abbey of Cockersand, 
his lands in Nuthurst. (Keurden MS. fo. 214) His second 
son, Thomas, with consent of his father, granted lands to 
Robert Buron (Byron) '' pro homagio et servicio." (MS. 
sans date, in possession of the Rector of Middleton, 1617.) 
The exertions of the succeeding lord enabled him to 
procure the privileges of an independent parish for his 
chapelry of Ashton about 1280. The next member of 
the family on record is Thomas de Assheton, designated 
Sir Thomas, he was probably the first knight of the line, 
and son of Roger. (Keurden small vol., p. 54.) Some 
pedigrees describe Sir Thomas Asheton to have left two 

sons, Robert (who was a knight, and m. Elizabeth ) 

and Gilbertus. His successor, however, was Sir John de 
Assheton, Knt., summoned to Parliament 17 Edward H. 
He was living 18 Ed. IH., and married Margery, daughter 
of Sir John Byron, relict of Sir Edmund Talbot, who died 
18 Ed. HI., (Whitaker's Craven, p. 25) and Sir Henry 
Fenwick, Knts. A number of fines, of very early date, 
relating to lands and messuages in this manor, are pre- 
served in the Chapter-house Record Office : vide Bundel. 
Rot. Fed. Finium de com. Lane, temps. Ed. HI. In 
the first year of the duchy of Lancaster, 25 Ed. HI., 
John de Radcliife, senior, is entered as plaintiff in a suit 
at law, against Hugh de Toft and Alicia his wife, de- 
ibrceants of the property in Ashton which William de 
Moston held: the issue is not recorded. In the fourth 



ASIITOX-TJNDEE-LYXE. 15 

year of the dueliy,29th Ed. III., Joliii de RadclifF,^ parson 
of tlie chureh of Bury, appeared as plaiiitifl* ai^ainst 
; John de Astslieleiih and Ellen liis wife, deforccants, of 
messuages and lands in Ashton. The result of this suit 
is also unknown. (^Baines' 4to., v. 2, p. 435) Sir John de 
Assheton was father of Sir Robert de Assheton, a cour- 
tier and a counsellor. He was returned to the parliament 
of 13*2 1 ; and to this circumstance probably owed his 
future fortunes. On the 15th of May, 1359, 34 Ed. III., 
the king appointed him Governor of " Guynes," near 
Calais: in 37 Ed. III., Lord Treasurer of England, (in 
this capacity he witnessed a charter to Edmund of Langley, 
the king's son) ; in 42 Ed. III., Grantee of the Castle of 
Saudgate, prope Calais. According to fines in the Tower, 
he was Admiral of the narrow seas 43 Ed. III. ; con- 
stituted Justice of Ireland 46 Ed. III., discharged 47 
Ed. III. ; Vice-chamberlain to the King 47 Ed. III., 
Treasurer of the Exchequer 49 Ed. III. ; a Trustee with 
other eminent persons of royal property designed to endow 
the abbey of St. Mary-le-Grace, 50th Ed. III. ; (Dugdalc 
Men. Ang., p. 944) one of the Executors of Edward 
the Third, 1377 ; Constable of Dover Castle and War^ 
den of the Cinque Ports for life, 4 Richard II. (Weaver's 
Fun. Monuments, p. 268.) He gave the largest bell of 
the church of Dover Castle. He married first Elizabeth, 
whose father's name is unknown ; and secondly, Philippa, 
widow of Sii' or Lord Matthew de Gomey, (Inq. Keur- 
dfTi MSS., A.) In one pedigree he is inserted *' Nuper 

In 20th Efl. III., tliis John de Radcliff pair] a rent of half-a-mark 
^o Henn-, Duke of Lancaster, for lands in Assheton-inuler-Linr. 

C 



16 HISTOKY OF 

defunctus," 4 Rich. II. ; but he died Constable of Dover 
Castle, Jan. 9, 1384, 8 Rich. II. He was interred in 
iho clmrch of that castle, under a marble, whereon is his 
portraiture as a knight inlaid in brass, and an inscription : 
'* Hie jacet Robertus Assheton, myles quondam consta- 
bularius Castri Dourie, et custos quinque Portuum qui 
obijt nono die Januar, Anno Domini millesimo CCC. 
octogesimo quarto, cujus anime propitietur Deus. Amen." 
Philippa, second wife of this knight, married secondly, 
Sir John Tiptoft, Knt., and died May 3, 1417. The 
record of the extent of Manchester manor in Keurden's 
MSS.,fo.274, (Baines' 4to., vol. 2, p. 182) states Robert 
de Ashton to hold of the lord, for the term of his life, two 
borates in Denton. 

Sir Robert was father of Thomas de Assheton? 
William, LL.D., Eleanor, (who married John Berkley, 
Esq.), and also of an Henry it is conjectured. Henry 
signed the treaty of peace betwixt Edward III. and 
John, King of France, 8th of May, 1360. Thomas, the 
eldest son and heir, was distinguished in his youth for 
an ardour of military fame; and he captured the royal 
standard of Scotland, at the battle of Durham or Neville 
Cross, 17th of October, 1346. — Dr. Aikin states, that 
he was knighted for his heroism on this occasion ; and is 
of opinion that he instituted the custom of riding the 
Black Lad, to commemorate this event. — Mr. Baines 
(12mo., vol. 1, p. 491) observes, that the king knighted 
Ashton and Coupland, another Lancashire esquire, who 
distinguished himself in the battle ; but the same author, 
(4to., vol. 2, p. 539) on the authority of Rymer's 



ASIITOX-UXDEK-LYNE. 17 

Fcpdera, (vol. 7, p. 490 ; vol. 9, p. 425) corrects the 
error of the creation of knighthood on Ashton, he beini^ 
termed an esquire forty years after this period. Coupland 
certainly received the honoiu*. On the 7th of Jan., 1385, 
9 Richard II., the king granted him letters of permission 
and protection to accompany John of Gaunt into Spain. 
His younger brother, William de Assheton, is styled 
*' Doctor of Laws to the Serene Prince Lord John, King 
of Castile and Leon." (Rymer.) The name of the lady 
of Thomas de Assheton is omitted in the genealogies. 

His only son and successor was Sir John de Assheton, 
Knt. He was Knight of the shire for Lancashire 6, 12, 
and 13 Richard II. ; and cut a high figure in the French 
wars. Froissart (tom. 1, p. 363) relates of him, that 
when before Xoyon, a fortified village in Picardy, he 
leaped over a fortress wall, and, single handed, attacked 
a dozen experienced French warriors, two of whom he 
wounded ; but they scorned to seek revenge, and were 
astounded at his braver}'. The translator of Froissart 
mistakes him for Su' John de vSeton. He married Mar- 
garet, sister or daughter of Perkins de Legh, of Lyme ; 
his daughter, Johanna, married Robert Davenport, of 
Bramhall, Knt. (Ormerod's Cheshire, v. 3, p. 401.) 
Collins states him to have been drowned at Norham ; 
but it was his only son and heir. Sir John de Assheton. 

Sir John de Assheton, who mamed a daughter of Sir 
Robert Standish, of Standish, Knt., or, as others say, a 
daughter of — Stanley, was father of John and Nicholas, 
both Knights : the latter was of the order of St. John, of 
Jerusalem or Rhodes. (Sir George Booth's Evidences.) 

c 2 



18 HISTORY OF 

John, the eldest son, and the successor of his father, 
was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of 
Henry the Fourth, Oct. 13, 1399. (Anti's Knights of 
the Bath, appen., f. 22.) Sir John, in 1412-13, was 
successful in attempts to render his subordination to the 
superior lord merely nominal. The custom roll and 
rental of Sir John, dated 1422, 1st Henry VI., is a 
valuable record of the tenures of his tenantry, and an 
interesting illustration of the manners of lord and serf. 
It is much too detailed to be treated of in this place ; and 
is, therefore, more appropriately assigned to the article 
Manorial Rights, Customs, &c. 

Sir John was chosen Knight of the Shire 1413, 1st 
Henry V.; appointed Seneschal of Bayeux 1417, 5th 
Henry V., in which capacity he received, on the 14th of 
December, 1417, the king's command to protect the 
religious within Bayeux. In 7th Henry V., he became 
BailiiF or Constable of Constance, and Captain of Hadu- 
pais. He was living 1427, 5th Henry YI., (Harl. MSS., 
Cod. 2085, fol. 400) and married first Jane, daughter of 
John Savile, of Tankersley, county of York; Collins 
says Isabel, daughter of Elland, of Brighouse, county of 
York : secondly, Margaret or Mary, daughter of Sir 
John Byron, of Clayton, Knt., who afterwards married 
John Talbot, of Bashall, Esq. The issue of the first 
wife was Sir Thomas Assheton, Knt., his successor; 
Robert, Lawrence, John, (omitted in some descents) 
Lucy, married first Sir Bertine Entwistle, Knt. ; secondly, 
Richard Byron ; thirdly, Ralph Shirley, Knt. : Margaret, 
married Thos. Langley, of Agecroft ; Katharine, married 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 19 

John Dukinfield ; Elizabeth, married first Sir Ralph 
Harrington ; secondly, Sir Richard Hammerton ; Agnes, 
married Thos. Booth, of Barton, Esq. ; Anne, married 
Button, of the county of Chester, Esq.; Mary, and Isabel. 
The second wife of Sir John left an only child, Ralph, 
who, by marriage with Margaret, cousin and sole heiress 
of Richard Bai'ton, of Middleton, became seated at 
Middleton, and was knighted. He was the ancestor of 
the Asshetons of Middleton, who flourished as knights 
and baronets for upwards of three centuries ; the female 
heiresses of the last male representative of which house 
married the heads of the noble houses of Suffield and 
Wilton, towards the close of the last century. The 
Asshetons, of Middleton, were the parent stock of the 
younger branches of Whalley, Dowmham, Cuerdale, 
Great Lever, Fayrsnape, kc. William Assheton, of 
Downham, (Whalley parish,) Esq., is reputed to be the 
only lineal descendant of the male line of the Asshetons 
now living in the county. Joseph Ashton, Esq., of 
Much Woolton, (Childwall parish) is said to be descended 
from the Ashtons of Ashton-in-Mackerfield, a collateral 
line of the Asshetons of Middleton. 

Sir John de Assheton died 7th Henry VI., 1428, and 
was succeeded by his eldest son. Sir Thomas de Asshe- 
ton ; married 3 Heniy V., Elizabeth, daughter of Sir 
John Byron, of Clayton, Knt , sister of his father's se- 
cond wife. Unlike a long line of ancestors of military 
repute, Sir Thomas, when young, attached himself more 
to the study of the laboratory than the feats of the field. 
In an age prone to belief in witchcraft and other absurdi- 



20 



HISTOHY OF 



ties, the secret studies of Sir Thomas were viewed with 
suspicion ; and lie and several more knights of a similar 
studious habit, were considered as proficients in the 
hlack art. He and his friend, Sir Edmund TrafFord, of 
Trafford, Knt., are stated to have been eminently skilled 
in the sciences of philosophy and chemistry, subjects 
little understood at that period. Their superior acquire- 
ments did not prevent them from apparently imposing 
upon themselves as well as others, by procuring a patent 
from the king in the 24th of Henry YI., 1455, " by the 
art or science of philosophy (alchymy) to work up certain 
metals, to transmute metals from their own kind, and 
then to transubstantiate them, by the said art or science, 
into perfect gold or silver, unto all manner of proofs and 
trials to be expected and endured, as any gold or silver 
growing in the mine." The sages commissioned to effect 
these golden projects, or, as they modestly designated 
themselves, ''lovers of truth and haters of deception," 
boasted that man, by their powers, would enjoy perpetual 
youth. So credulous was the king, that he actually 
informed his people that the happy hour was approaching 
when all his debts would be totally discharged ! (Baines' 
12mo.,vol. 1, p. 37.) The populace were alarmed at the 
supposed artfulness of the workers in alchymy, and their 
persons were endangered. But before their experiments 
could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, they too 
late discovered that they had omitted to prepare the 
elixir vitse of their brethren ; for the messenger of death 
invaded their laboratory, and spread a lethal gloom over 
their golden speculations. (Transactions of the Lanca- 
shire Antiquarian Society, part 1, p. 16, 17.) Sir Thomas, 



ASHTOX-rNDEE-LYNE. 2 1 

the date of wliosc death does not occur in the genealogies, 
left issue, Sir John, liis eldest son and successor ; Ed- 
mund, who became seated at Chadderton. in Oldham, by 
marni-ing Johanna, dani^hter of Richard Radcliffe, or 
Radcliffe Chadderton, Esq. : Geoffrey, first of Shepley, 
in right of his wife, the daughter and lieiress of Thomas 
Mannow. of Shepley ; Nicholas, sergeant at law, 1443, 
justice of the king's bench, 1445, married Mary, daughter 
of Lord Brook : Elizabeth, wife of Sir Jolm Trafford, of 
Trafford, Knt. ; and Dulcia, married Thomas Gerard, of 
Bryu, Esq. He had also issue four other children, who 
probably died yomig. 

Sir John having taken an active part in the quarrel 
bet\vixt the houses of York and Lancaster, was ^vith 
King Henry VI. in the fatal battle of Northampton, 
July 10, 1460, where, with eight others, previous to the 
engagement, he received the honour of knighthood. He 
married twice ; first, Dulcia, daughter of Sir Edmund 
Trafford, and secondly, Isabel, daughter of De Elland, 
and died 1508. By his first wife, Dulcia, he had issue 
Sir Thomas Assheton, who w^as knighted at Ripon, 1491 
he married first, EUzabeth, daughter and sole heiress of 
Ralph Staley, Esq., of Staley Hall, rear Stalybridge : 
and secondly, Agnes, one of the ten daughters of Sir 
James Harrington, of Woolfage, Knt. Sir Thomas died 
in 1516, and was the last surviving male representative 
i the ancient family of the Ashtons, of Ashton-under- 
JLyne. By the heiress of Staley he had issue three 
daughters : his co-heiresses, Margaret, the eldest, 
married Sir William Booth, of Dunham Massey, Knt. ; 



22 HISTORY OF 

Elizabeth married Randle Ashton, of Burton, Esq., but 
died without issue ; and Joan married Sir John Leigh, of 
Boothes, near Nether Knutsford, Knt., by whom no issue. 
The children of Sir Thomas Assheton, by his second 
marriage, were John, who, though married, died issueless 
apparently, in his father's life time ; and Alice, who 
married Sir Richard Hoghton, of Hoghton Tower, Knt., 
by whom Thomas Hoghton, Esq., who temporarily pos- 
sessed the manor of Ashton, according to inquisitions 
post mortem of 22nd Elizabeth. Elizabeth, wife of 
Randle Ashton, Esq., possessed a third of the manor, 
she died 1557 : and Joan, wife of Sir John Leigh, had 
also a portion. These possessions reverted to the Booths 
and Hoghtons ; but the manor and chief part of the 
hereditaments fell to the share of the Booths, and the 
ancient name of Ashton became extinct, while the place 
passed into a non-resident family. 

Sir William Booth was a lineal descendant of John 
de Booth, lord of the manor of Barton-on-Irwell. He was 
twice married, first to the heiress of Ashton and Staley ; 
secondly, to Ellen, child of Sir John Montgomery. 
He was the parent of a large family. He died Nov. 9, 
1519, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George 
Booth, Esq., who married Elizabeth Butler. He died 
1531, and was followed by his eldest son, George Booth, 
Esq., who expired 1544, aged 28. His successor was 
his only son, William, who was but three years of age 
at his father's death. In 1578, he was knighted. He 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Warburton. 
He died Nov. 28, 1579, and had issue seven sons and 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. 23 

six daughters. He was succeeded by his second son, 
George, who was knighted about 159 J, and was created 
a baronet May 22, 1611 ; which thus rendered him the 
first knight and baronet, and the tenth baronet. He was 
once high-sheriif of both Lancashire and Cheshii'c, and was 
a warm supporter of the parHamentary cause. He died 
Oct. 24, 1652, and his estates and honours were inherited 
by his grandson, George, (son of William, who died 1636) 
the future Baron Delamere, who was born Dec. 8, 1622. 
He represented Cheshire in parliament 1641 and 1651. 
He maiTied first in 1638, Catharine, daughter and heiress 
of Theophilus Fienes, Earl of Lincoln ; she died 1643 ; 
and he married secondly, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of 
Henr}' Grey, Eai4 of Stamford, by whom he had issue 
six sons and five daughters. Sir George embodied an 
army in Cheshire in 1659, ostensibly for the purpose 
of obtaining a " free parliament," but in reality for the 
purpose of restoring the Stuarts. This insurrection 
having failed, the attempt to restore monarchy was not 
resumed till the death of Oliver Cromwell, when Sir 
George formed one of a deputation for inviting Chas. H. 
to ascend the throne of England ; and after the restora- 
tion he was elevated to the peerage, April 20, 1661, 
under the title of Baron Delamere, of Dunham Massey. 
Not being studious to please the court, he was subse- 
quently disregarded by the king, and ill used by his 
.successor, James H. He died August 8, 1684, and was 
succeeded by his second son, Henry, second Lord Dela- 
mere, who was, in his father's life-time, member for 
Cheshire in several parliaments. This nobleman had 
scarcelv taken his seat in the House of Peers before he 



24 HISTORY OF 

was consigned to the Tower, and placed at the bar of 
the Lords accused of high treason. He had, with great 
zeal, acted for the interests of his country, and had been 
particularly anxious for the passing of the famous bill 
of exclusion, for which the great and good Lord Russell 
complimented him on the morning of his execution. For 
this he incurred the displeasure of the then Duke of 
York. After some months' confinement he was released ; 
but on the accession of James II. he was again commit- 
ted ; and, on being admitted to bail, was committed a 
third time on a false accusation of high treason, January 
14, 1685. He was shortly afterwards tried in West- 
minster Hall, before the Lord Chancellor, Jeffreys, his 
particular enemy, who was constituted Lord High 
Steward on the occasion. The jury consisted of twenty- 
seven peers, of a select class, summoned by Jeffreys. 
The impeachment accused his lordship of " conspiring 
with Charles Gerard, Esq., and other false traitors, to 
dethrone his majesty, James II., with assembling to 
make war in the county of Chester, and with a design to 
seize the city of Chester, and the castle of the said city." 
In support of this charge, a wretch of the name of Saxon 
was called, who had been clearly suborned to tender 
false testimony ; and who deposed that Lord Delamere 
had sent for him to his lordship's house, at Mere, and 
had despatched him with a message to the Duke of 
Monmouth, to inform his grace that ten thousand men 
Avould be raised in Cheshire ; but that the rising must 
be delayed from the first of June till Midsummer. His 
lordship made so full and able a defence, that he was 
pronounced not guilty, by the unanimous vote of the jury. 



ASIITOX-rXPEIl-LYNE. 25 

Happy was it for him that he liad been tried by his peers, 
and not by such hireling juries as Lord Russell and others 
had suffered by. Subsequently he lived retired at Dun- 
ham Massey, till four years afterwards, on the arrival of 
the Prince of Orange in England, he raised a large force 
in Cheshire and Lancashire, to aid in effecting the revo- 
lution, and marched to meet the prince at Windsor. On 
the 17th of December, 1688, he, together with the 
Marquis of Halifax and the Earl of Shrewsbury, were 
charged by Prince ^^"illiam with a message to King 
James, commanding him to leave his palace and to re- 
nounce his throne. Here is a striking instance of the 
mutability of fortune. King James, to the honour of 
Lord Delamere, said, when in retirement in France, that 
none of the messengers behaved with so much respect as 
Lord Delamere. On the 13th of February, 1688, Lord 
Delamere was appointed a member of the Privy Council, 
and on the 9th of April, 1689, Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer; by letters patent, dated April 17th, 1689-90, 2nd 
of William and ]Mary, he was created Earl of Warring- 
ton, in Lancashire. He died Jan. 2, 1693, and was 
succeeded by his second son, George, second Earl of 
Warrington, and third Baron Delamere, who died Aug. 
2, 1758, without male issue, by which the earldom be- 
came extinct ; but the title of Baron Delamere passed 
his cousin, Nathaniel Booth, Esq. Mary, only child 
and sole heiress of the second Earl of Warrington, con- 
veyed the family possessions, by marriage, to the Right 
Hon. Henrj* or Harrj' Grey, fourth Earl of vStamford, 
who became possessed of the manor of Ashton-under- 
Lyne in 1758. He died May 30, 1768; his consort 



26 HISTORY OF 

died 1772. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George 
Harry Grey Booth, fifth Earl of Stamford, and F.S.A. 
He was created Baron Delamere and Earl of Warrington 
April 22, 1796. He married Henrietta Cavendish 
Bentinck, second daughter of William, second Duke of 
Portland. He died May 23, 1819, and his titles and 
estates were inherited by his eldest son, George Harry 
Grey, sixth and present Earl of Stamford, and fourth and 
present Earl of Warrington ; Baron Delamere, of Dun- 
ham Massey ; Baron Grey, of Groby ; Baron Bonville 
and Harrington ; Lord Lieutenant and Gustos Rotu- 
lorum of the county of Chester. He married Henrietta 
Charlotte Elizabeth Charteris, daughter of the Right 
Hon. Francis Lord Elcho, son of Francis, fifth Earl 
of Wemyss: she died 1838. His lordship's family 
consists of a grandson and two daughters. The present 
earl appears recently to have evinced much solicitude for 
the prosperity and welfare of the inhabitants of Ashton- 
under-Lyne. For the purpose of maintaining the due 
value of property in Ashton, as compared with the 
increased worth of land in the adjacent districts, he 
procured an Act of Parliament a short time ago (1838-9), 
effecting a considerable change in the tenures by which 
lands are held from the manor. In order to create a 
general feeling of kind regard and good will, the earl 
occasionally resides at the Old Hall, the ancient mansion 
of the Asshetons, which was first fitted-up for the 
temporary residence of his lordship, in August, 1838. 
On the 22nd of August, 1838, this nobleman visited 
the town, to superintend the arrangements for his abode 
at the manor house, and to view the parish church. 



ASIITON-UNDErv-LYXE. 27 

This event was commemorated by tlie presentation ot* a 
congratulatory address to the earl, and a public dinner of 
a number of the principal inhabitants. — For upwards of 
fifty years, the extensive manorial possessions of the 
Stamford family were managed by the late Mr. Hugo 
Worthington and his lamily, with considerable efficiency; 
and the retirement of that highly respected gentleman 
from the official situation which he held under the lord 
of the manor, was deeply regretted by those persons with 
whom his duties brought him into connexion. 

The Old Hall of Ashton-under-Lyne probably 

occupies what was the site of an out-post, or rude fort 

ot Northumbria, in the Saxon period. The Norman 

possessor of the manor appears to have erected a tower 

I here ; and, from the pedigree and rent roll of Sir John 

:de Assheton, it is evident that the hall and its yard were 

,both in a complete state in the 3rd of Richard H., 1380, 

for in the covenant regarding the swine of the Assheton 

;tenantr}' are these words : — " that the s\\'ine are allowed 

jto run in the demesnes of the town, excepting only the 

iLittle Park and Hall yards." Dr. Aikin gives 1483 as 

^the supposed date of the fabric, which may be true of the 

"'•^^ent edifice. In the reign of Heniy VI., Sir John dp 

• -heton resided here in a style of feudal grandevu', and 

Ijwith all the hospitality of manner which characterized 

gentr}' of the olden time. The great room called 

hall was frequently a scene of rude festivity, where, 

Uie amusements were not highly refined, they were 

J ^thoroughly jovial. Strict in the exaction of manorial 

J dues, Sir John was generous to all whom he conceived 



28 HISTORY OF 

deservedly merited his approbation. In accordance witli 
the true spirit of chivahy, he gave more countenance to 
tlie arts of ^var than those of peace ; and whilst the 
bowmen were suffered to cluster around him on festive 
days, the rustics of the fields were placed in a position 
beneath the men of arms. The appearance of the Old 
Hall is striking, but sullen ; and when surrounded by 
stately gateways, court-yards, moats, and draw-bridges, 
it would assume a formidable air. The free and intrud- 
ing hand of modern improvement has gradually destroyed 
these needless works of defence, and the greater part of 
the mansion is as much modernised as its ancient form 
will allow. The pile is large and irregular, and stands 
on the south side of the church-yard, overlooking the 
valley of the Tame. The south part of the building 
resembles a prison, and was used as such within the last 
century. 

Dr. Aikin remarks, that the Ashtonians once regarded 
the prison of the Old Hall as a kind of bastile to the 
town. The prison portion is a strong but rather small 
edifice, with two round towers, one at each angle, clothed 
in ivy, and bearing a gloomy aspect. These towers are 
designated " The Dungeons." They appear only to have 
been conveniences for the prisoners, as they have door 
places, a flag for the feet, and a rail to prevent them from 
falling backwards, with drains from the bottom. They 
are not large enough for a person to live in, but seem to 
have been added to make the place look more formidable. 
A large room used to be hung with gilded leather, and 
there was a fine painting of St. George and the dragon in the 



ASIITOX-rXDER-LYNE. 29 

window; handcuffs, fastened to the wall, were remaining 
not many years ago."^ Within the prison were two court- 
yards, an inner and an outer, with strong walls. Over 
the outer gate was a square room, ascended to, from the 
inside, by a flight of stone steps, very ancient : it was 
always called the Jailer's Chapel, as it was supposed 
that prayers were occasionally read in it to the prisoners. 
This ruinous room was taken down about 1794. The 
adjacent house was inhabited by an aged man, wlio 
remembered a gate being open through the house in 
1733. On the west side of the hall the walls were strong, 
and contained numbers of loopholes. A short distance 
is a close which has been called Gallows Field, doubtless 
the place of execution, when the lord of Ashton had 
power of life and death : 

** AVhen lords could hang t±ieir serfs at once, 
Xor give a reason — why ; 
And ladies loved that tourney most, 
'MVhere most were doomed to die I" 

The manorial rights and customs of Ashton-under-Lyne 
are profuse — the greater number of them obsolete. 
Taking them in distinct heads they chiefly resolve into 
tenures, services in money, kind, and labour ; restriction 
as to soke, manorial heriots, incidental privileges, royal 
grants of frankpledge, courts, markets, and fairs. 

Orm Fitz-Eward, the fii'st mesne lord of Ashton of 
the Norman line, paid a tribute of ten shillings to 

♦ Aikin's Manchester, 1795, p. 225-6. Barritt's Collections, 
Chetham Librarj-, 4to., p. 58. — In Aikin are three views of parts 
of the hall. 

D 2 



30 HISTORY OF 

Albcrtus Grelle, Baron of Manchester, the paramount 
lord. Roger, the son of Orm, held Assheton and Heton 
of Albertus, grandson of Albertus, by the service of ten 
shillings for each of these manors, and a soar of hawks. 
Gilbert Fitz-Orm, whom I take to be of the Fitz-Orms 
of Assheton, held his lands by paying annually three-, 
pence, or some spurs, to Benedict Gurnet, the heir of 
Roger de Heton, in thanage. (Tes. de Nevill.) 

Robert de Holland held part of the knight's fee in 
Dal ton, Parbold, &c., that was anciently the Asshetons'. 
In Gregson's Fragments of Lancashire, p. 4, it is said, 
that Robert de Holland received Assheton by gift of 
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to whom he afterwards 
proved faithless. Robert de Holland appears to have 
been only authorized to receive the services due from 
Assheton to Thomas Plantagenet, as Earl of Lancaster. 

Edward L, in the 13th year of his reign, 1284, is 
described (upon what authority I have hitherto been 
unable to discover) to have granted to Sir Thomas de 
Assheton, reputed son of Roger, right of view of frank- 
pledge, and of a market and fairs in his manor. (See 
article markets and fairs.) The first part of the tran- 
sactions of the Lancashire Antiquarian Society states 
the date of this grant to be unknown. It was confirmed 
temp. Henry VI., and the confirmation has been taken 
for the original grant. 

In the same year he was required to pay tw^enty-two 
shillings annual rent to Sir Richard de Kirkeby, who 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. 31. 

was either a lessee or trustee for Robert Grelle, or 
Gresley, the superior lord, son of Peter, great grandson 
Iff the younger Albertus Grelle. 

Sir John de Assheton was chartered to have free 
warren in his demesne lands of Ashton, Aug. 27, 1335, 
9th Edward III. (Rot. Chart. Par. Uuic. m. 23. 

In the 3rd of Richard II., 1380, Sir John de Assheton, 
Knt., covenants with his tenants, that " they shall havr 
free pannage for their hogs or swine, from harvest to 
seed time, in all his demesnes, except in the Little Park 
and Hall yards, on condition they are ringed, and no 
trespass done."* (Barritt's MSS., in Manchester College 
Libraiy, copied from a paper of Sir Raphe Assheton, of 
Middleton, Bart., 1749.) 

In 1412, 13th of Henry IV., or 25th February, 1413. 
1st of Henry- V., Thomas (Magister) de la Warre, ninth 
Baron of Manchester, and also Rector of Manchester, 
empowered Thomas Longley, (Langley) Bishop of Dur- 
ham, William Th}TmTig, Miles Johes Henege Nichns 
Mott, parson of Swynshead, and others, to inquire into 
the degree of subjection of the Lord of Ashton to Man- 
chester: they accordingly issued an indenture representing 
Sir John de Assheton to hold the manor with its appur- 
tenances of Thomas Lord de la Warre, by fealty, service 
of twenty-two shillings annually, and one hawk, or forty 
shillings, and a contribution called putura, to the main- 
tenance of the foresters of Horewich and Blakelegh, as 
part of the manor of Manchester. Dated at Swineshead, 
D 3 



32 HISTORY OF 

and witnessed hj Radpho de Stanley, Johe de Pekyngton, 
Johe de Hilton, Rico de Radeclyff, Adam de Leuer. 

(Harl. MSS., Codex 4,900, fo. C.) 

Another document of the same date, states Sir John 
to have held Assheton of Sir Richard de Kirkeby, and 
Sir Richard to have held it of Thomas Lord de la Warre, 
by fealty. The rent due from Sir John to Sir Richard 
is entered as 07ie penny per annum ; and the amount 
yielded by Sir Richard to Lord de la Warre is marked 
as twenty-two shillings, a circumstance which occasions 
doubt and distrust of the assertions in this record. It is 
added that Sir Richard was acquitted of twenty-one 
shillings and eleven pence, reducing the rent to one penny. 
The sum of one penny formed the whole service subse- 
quently due from Sir John and his successors to Kirkeby 
or de la Warre, and their successors, as paramount lords. 
Mr. Baines (vol. 1, 12mo., p. 490) places the date of this 
transaction in the 5th Henry VI., citing MSS., British 
Museum, 2085 E, p. 410. Kirkeby or the Baron de la 
Warre, further conceded to Sir John a confirmation of 
his right of '' view of frankpledge (and incidental privi- 
leges) of the tenants and inhabitants of the manor and 
town of Assheton, with tollage, fishery, and stallage." 
A contribution was previously levied from '' Ashton- 
under-Lyne and its members, to the maintenance of the 
Bailiff (the lord's sergeant sworn) of the Barony of 
Manchester, and his assistants." 

In the 4th of Henr\^ YL, Thomas de la Warre, Clerk, 
is recorded to have died, seized of Ashton-under-Line 
manor, &c., as superior lord. 



ASHTOX-UXDER-LYXE. 33 

By the activity and care of the Sir Jolin de Assheton, 
Knt., of the reigns of Henry V. and VI., a detailed 
and accurate survey of his possessions was taken, the 
results of which have heen entered in his " Custom Roll 
and Rental" of the manor, bearinc: date 1422, 1st of 
Henry ^ I. This curious document was in the hands of 
Sir Raphe Assheton, of Middleton, Bart., 1749; and a copy 
came into the possession of Jonah Harrop, of Bardsley, 
Gent, (several transcripts have been taken) ; and Dr. 
Hibbert has added to the interest of the MS. by his pro- 
found illustrative notes, entitled " Illustrations of the 
Customs of a Manor in the north of England, by Dr. 
Hibbert, of Edinbm*gh." A copy of the Custom Roll 
and Rental appears in the " History of Ashton-under- 
Lyne," published in 1823. The MS. is too large to be 
comprised within my limits; and I shall, therefore, endea- 
vour to elucidate its general features. Mr. Baines (4to., 
vol. 2, p. 543) remarks, that this custumale '' casts much 
light on the early customs and manners of the parish, 
which, though not differing much from other manorial 
customs, there is a minuteness of detail that interests 
while it informs ; and exhibits at once a state of 
society where senice was substituted for money, and 
local authority for national law." 

The roll of the names of the tenants presents the 
following choice appellations : — " Magot, that was the 
wife of Richard of Hadfield ; William and Robert the 
Walkers, Syssot, that was the wife of Patrick ; Malkyn, 
that was the wife of Diccon Hoggeson ; Mergot of Stealey, 
Alys, that was Pole's wife ; Nan of Windebank, Roger 



34 HISTORY OF 

the Smith; Syssot, that was the wife of Thomas the 
Cook; Hobbe Adamsoii, Roger the Baxter, William the 
Arrowsmith, Jak the Spencer, Elyn the Rose, Jenkyn of 
the Wood, Thomlyn of the Leghes, Jak the Mercer, John 
the Slater, Roger the Cropper, Robert the Wright, 
Syssot, that was the wife of Jak of Bardsley ; Rauf and 
Robyn of Assheton, the Heir of Hobbe of the Leghes, 
Jankin of the Winterbotham, Magot, that was the wife 
of Jenkyn the Cropper, and Tomlyn the Tailor." This 
list of the artisans and husbandmen of Assheton of the 
fifteenth century indicates the origin of many surnames 
still subsisting in the parish. It is not surprising that 
the distinct profession of an arrowsmith should have 
occurred in the town of Ashton four centuries ago, at a 
time when bowmen were the " flower of the English 
armies." 

In the first page of the roll is inserted the covenant 
respecting the swine of the tenantry, 3rd Richard II. ; 
(see p. 27) and a decree, 1st Henry IV., inflicting a for- 
feiture of 20s. at the lord's court, on such tenants as did 
not multer at the lord's milne. In the order made for the 
receipt of rents at the court, for the year 1422, the style 
of the lord is " John of Assheton, Knt., the which came 
out of Normandy." All the tenants were required to pay 
their rent twice a year, at the feasts of St. John the 
Baptist and St. Martin, — to give their presents at Yule, 
Christmas ; and in return the " lord shall fleed all his 
said tenants and their wives, upon Yule-day, at the din-- 
iier. They shall send neither man nor woman in their 



ASnTOX-rXPER-LTNE. 35 

name, except their son or daug'hter."'^ Each tenant who 
had a plough was to ploiv two clays, and eacli who had 
half a plough one day, m wheat and lenten secdinii^. 
Eveiy tenant, ^* when they bin charged," was to han'ow 
day, in seeding time : each of them was to cart ten 
cai'tfiil of turre from the Moss to Ashton ; shear four 
days in haryest; and cart a day coi*n. At the death of a 
tenant — his or her heirs were commanded to pay a prin- 
cipal " the best beast they haye, which other deed (is to 
be done) next after (the tribute) holy ku*k.*' 

'•At the period in which tliis knight, Sir John, settled 
upon the estate of Assheton (says Dr. Hibbert), tenures 
had assumed that definite form to which were applied the 
tenn Soccage, a word of obscure et}Tnolog}', supposed 
to denote priyilege or liberty, in contradistinction to the 
indeterminate senices of more ancient feuds. By the 
necessit}- imposed upon feudatories of dispensing with 
the militar}- obligations of part of their tenants, an ap- 
proach was making in the feudal system towards a civil 
estabhshment. The dependants thus exempted from the 
militaiy sen-ice, then the most honourable and distin- 
guished employment, cultiyated the land, attended to the 
labours of husbandr}', and made a return of com, cattle, 
: money, in lieu of other obligations. The residence of 
tlie lord had long conferred upon Ashton the appellation 

* T}ie Yule Feast, synonymous to Ale Feast, was a saturnalia 
in which rank gave way to equality. In Yorkshire and some parts 
of Lancashire it was customary- to bum a large log of wood on 
( hristmas Eve, called the ** Yule log ;" and for all the family to take 
. mess of creed wheat, boiled in milk and spiced, calleil furmcnty. 



36 HISTORY OF 

of manor. The obligements of the tenants at will were 
of a base and servile nature, yet determinate, and there- 
fore comprehended under the name of Villanum Soc- 
cagium. They were excluded from partaking in the 
honours of the ' tented field,' being destined, on the 
manor of their lord, to perform the duties of civil and 
agricultural drudgery. Thus the opprobrium cast upon 
such menial employments as ploughing the lord's lands, 
or carting the lord's fuel or manure, originating from the 
high sense entertained, in this early period, of military 
allegiance, is transmitted to later times, in the debasing 
idea, that the name of villain, originally nothing more 
than a feudal term, never fails to excite. Soccage labour 
was familiarly called boon work; hence an old adage 
still retained when a man is supposed to be working for 
nothing, * that he has been served like a boon shearer.' " 

It is remarked, that, in some manor houses of Lanca- 
shire, once dedicated to the annual scenes of festivity at 
Yule or Christmas, may be observed an elevation of the 
floor at the extremity of the great hall, or, in the place 
of it, a gallery which stretches along one side of the 
room, with the intention that it should accommodate the 
lord and his family, as that they might not be annoyed 
by the coarse rustic freedoms, which the tenants would 
be too apt to take with them, during the hours of their 
conviviality. In a hall of this kind, in the manor house 
of Assheton, we may imagine the Yule fire to be kindled; 
while, in a gallery, or on a raised floor, Sir John, his 
lady, and family, together with his kinsmen, Elland, of 
Brighouse, and Sir John Byi'on, are feasting apart, yet 
attentive to the frolics or old songs of the company below. 



ASIITON-UXDErv-LYXE. 37 

It was on these occasions that pi^ tankards were 
used, and horns that bore the names of the Saxons 
and Danes, whom the Normans had ousted out of their 
possessions. We may suppose that on such festivals as 
these, the wooden bowl or horn would pass freely through 
the hands of Sir John's tenants at will, all clad in their 
l)est hoods, and brown woollen jackets and petticoats. 
The ancient musical instruments were a characteristic 
kind of liddle, and a stringed instrument called virginals. 
The provincial songs, few of which lasted less than half 
an hour, rehearsed the deeds of Launcelot du Lake, the 
uiant slayer : Ranulph, of Chester, and his crusade ; and 
Roger de Calverley's amorous feats. In order to preserve 
as much as possible, the degi'ee of decorum necessary at 
such meetings, there was frequently introduced a dimi- 
nutive pair of stone stocks, of about eighteen inches in 
length, for confining within them the fingers of the unruly. 
This instrument was entrusted to the general prefect of 
manorial festivities, the king of mivsrule, whose office it was 
to pimish all who exceeded his royal notions of decency. 
Accordingly, such a character appears among the list of 
Sir John's tenants, under the name of Hobbe the King. 
A festivity of this kind, wrung from the pockets of vas- 
sals, acquired, in derision, the appellation of drink lean : 
and it is not improbable that the name of landlord was 
originally attached to the host of an inn, as a satirical 
allusion to the manorial landlord. 

The rustic jubilees of the Gyst Ale, guising, (or, more 
properly, disguisings) termed also marlings, were cele- 
brated in the spring, after the fields had been manured 



38 HISTORY OF 

with marl, preparatory to the sowing of wheat. They 
were the principal feats or ales in Lancashire. For the 
celebration of the gyst ale of a township, contributions 
were raised from all ranks of society; — the lord of the 
manor, the esquire, or the farmer, wdiose bounty might 
be supplicated, came forward, and announced the sum 
that he intended to give. The treasurer of the feast 
exclaimed a largesse! The populace demanded, with 
one yoice^from whom? The sum was not then actually 
published ; but it w^as vauntingly proclaimed that the 
donor, who had always, on these occasions, the title of 
lord prefixed to his name, had contributed a part of 
several thousand pounds. After the collection had been 
made, an immense garland was formed of every flower the 
season affbrded, being also decked with a profusion of 
ribbons ; but the number and variety of silver, or silver- 
plated vessels, w^hich were suspended from every part of 
it, constituted its chief attraction. The villagers, who 
were overwhelmed with rustic finery, then formed them- 
selves into a procession, in which they were attended by 
an Arbiter Eleg ant ar turn ^ named the King. The fool 
was an indispensable character ; a grotesque cap, a tail 
hanging to the ground, the usual appendage of a bell 
behind, and a formidable mask, constituted the pecu- 
liarities of his apparel. He w^as, in ancient times, mounted 
on a hobb)^, and his office, wdiich was a lucrative one, 
from the money that he collected, was named Hoh riding. 
Thus, in the manor roll of Assheton, Jak the Mercer 
paid to his lord, for such a privilege, the annual sum of 
6s. 8d. These disguisings were practised to a late period; 
and formed a favourite amusement in "the spirit-stirring 



ASHTOX-TJNDER-LYNE. 39 

times" of Queen Elizabeth. Sports denominated 
maskings, or mummings, were prevalent amongst the 
peasantry of the parish as late as 1773. Similar frolice 
have been ealled churnings. 

The service of the tenants in yielding to the lord a 
principal at their death, has been noticed : this Avas 
evidently an heriot. According to general custom, the 
second best beast of the dying was the property of the 
priest ; but in Assheton the lord was not entitled to his 
heriot till the best beast (the mortuary) had been delivered 
to the holy kirk.''^ This oppressive relic of ancient 
military subjection was found particularly galling ; and 
its abuse was in some measure prevented by a statute of 
21st Henry VIII. The clergy of the archdeaconry of 
Chester were anciently subject to an ecclesiastical mor- 
tuary of the Bishop. — Mr. Baines (History of Lancashire, 
4to., vol. 2, p. 533) observes, that the feudal system pre- 
vailed here in all its details of degrading servility, for the 
villani soccagii were little better than serfs of the soil, 
whose utterance of expressions condemnatory of their 
condition would have been punished by executions at 
their own doors without any form of trial. The able 
historian of his native county proceeds to contrast the 
condition of the people in the past periods of feudal 
domination with their state in the present times of com- 
mercial enterprize. He truly remarks, that trade has 
tended to confer a freedom of action and of sentiment on 

* It was usual to drive tho boast before the corpse of the deceased 

at the funeral procession to chrirch. 

E 



40 IIISTOHY OF 

the lowest classes which would not have been tolerated 
in the days of the early lords of Assheton. — A strongly 
wrought picture of the condition of the serf of the fif- 
teenth century compared with that of the factory artisan 
of the nineteenth, follows. The vassals of the generation 
of Sir John de Assheton were, however, doubtless pos- 
sessed of an equal amount of happiness with their more 
intellectual and improved descendants of our own times. 
The philanthropist who undertakes to compare the 
features of the feudal system with the character of the 
factory system, engages upon a momentous inquiry — the 
former relating to the domestic condition of our early 
agriculturalists, and the latter to the situation of a vast 
diversified manufacturing community. 

The free tenants enjoyed their lands by a tenure 
originally of military service, compromised for slight 
acknowledgments of money. The list of their names is 
free from appellations denoting any menial occupation of 
life ; and the better to define the distinction betwixt the 
free and the lowly tenants, an ordinance, inserted in the 
custom and rent roll, settles the degree of precedence to 
be observed by the female members of their families in 
taking their seats in the parish kirk on the sabbath. 

One of the most remarkable of the tenures in this 
manor is expressed in these terms : — " Syssot, that was 
the wife of Patrick, for a liouse and garden at the Milne, 
she shall shear four days in harvest, and she shall give a 
principal at her dying; and for her term shall pay 2s. 
and a present at Yole to the value of 4d.*' Another runs 



ASIITOX-UNDEK-LYXr;. 41 

thus: — •• Rauf of Assheton and Robyn of Asshcton have 
the Sour Car, Gukle llode, and Stanc Rynges, for the 
term of their lives ; Rauf, of the gifte of John of Asshe- 
ton, Knyg'hte, the eUier : and Robyn, of the gifte of 
John of Asshe-ton, Knyghte, the younger, the Farm."" 
Richard of Bardesley's render for Bardesley was a rose. 

The number of tenants holding by free will *•'"' appears 

to have been 1*20: of these the holders of tenements or 

parts of tenements amounted to 89; of cottages 25; of a 

cottage and garden, 1; of the kilne,' bakehouse, smithy, 

barn, and the two corn mills, 1 each. The free tenants 

who held lands for limited periods were 30, five of whom 

leased intakes in Palden wood, anciently the largest 

hi the parish, and others farmed the Leghes (Leys' 

.lelds, i. e. Lees), the Knolles (the rising grounds), and 

the Hursts (the thickets), from which they derived their 

names. Those whose leases of lands terminated on the 

annunciation of the Virgin Mary, w^ere 1 1 ; at the term 

.f Pentecost, 8; of St. John the Baptist, 21; of St. 

Michael the Archangel, 18; of "the holy'' St. Martin, 

11. In addition to these, there were the " Libi tenent 

de Termo Natal Dmi," fourteen in number, six tenants 

for term of life, and one tenant for a term of ten years. 

The entire number of the holdings in lease of Sir John 

amounted to 240. Several tenants held many tenements 

each, for instance, Richard of Bardesley held seven ; 

Thomas of the Leghes, six ; Ricus de Moston, six ; 

* Or soccage, wlio took tlieir tenements for twenty years, or '* for 
twenty winter terms." 
K 2 



42 HISTORY OF 

Willielinus de Aldvvinshagh, five ; Thomas Claydon, 
live ; Petrus de Shepley, five. — The total number of 
tenants of Sir John is estimated to have amounted to 
190, not including the eleven tenants given to "Thomas 
of Assheton,"' his son and heir, at the period of his son's 
marriage. The turvery of the Moss was chiefly in the 
lord's hands. The free tenants who made " fiine yearly" 
for the making of the milne, &c., were four; the indi- 
viduals who rendered a " ffine" of 3s. 4d. each, total 20s., 
for the privilege of procuring contributions at the Gyst 
Ale, or Village Feast, were six in number ; and one of 
the rustics paid for the privilege of " Hob-riding" at the 
feast, his buffoonery being well remunerated by the gifts 
of the amused. -, 

The rents of the tenants at will varied greatly, ac- 
cording to the size of the farms ; the average rent may 
be loosely estimated at seventeen shillings each. The 
cottages yielded, on an average, three shillings each per 
annum. The presents for the Yole dinner varied from 
four-pence to twenty-pence each. The sums paid by the 
free tenants varied from sixpence to seven shillings and 
one penny. Few of the rents of the remaining tenants 
exceeded two shillings each. — The annual payments of 
the holders of " the son and heir" varied from ten to 
thirty shillings each. The *' turvery of the moss" was 
valued at £5 yearly. The profits of the "courts and 
ffines" amounted to forty shillings ; and the tolls of the 
market and fairs, to two marks. The sum total of Sir 
John's rent, exclusive of services and presents, produced 
£27 12s. llfd. (this is erroneous if the items are cor- 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 43 

rectly transcribed) ; and his son's marriage portion of 
£9 2s. 7d. The cxphinations of the customs and bye- 
laws enacted in the court of the manor for the preserving 
of order and propriety of conduct amongst the tenantry, 
are not the least engaging parts of the ancient table of 
the rents and laws of Asshcton. Due care was evinced in 
binding the tenants to maintain their farms in good con- 
dition; in requiring them to multer at the lord's milne, and 
none other :^* and to suffer the corn of the lord to be ground 
first before that of any other person, without mulcture or 
service on his part to the milner, other than voluntary. 
The consent of the free tenants ''to be Infeoffed in the 
Hall mote of Assheton, after the custom and burgales of 
the town," is registered, — with a signification of their 
willingness to participate in inquests composed of the 
free tenants and the tenants at will. The tenantry in- 
vested Sir John with power of distress by his bailey, on 
trespassers convicted by inquest. If the offenders could 
not be punished by loss of goods, the next remedy was 
the use of the stocks. Trespassers bent upon doin.^ 

* The obligation of tenants to grind at the mills of lords of 
nianoi-s is of high antiquity. The corn mills of all manors seem 
to have been possessed by the lords. At Assheton, John of the 
Txlge appears to have been the milner, and the annual rent rendered 
hy him for his two mills was IGs. 4d., the mills to he held up (re- 
paired) by the lord. The general toll of the miller was the sixteenth 
vessel. If any one sold the corn growing on his own tenement, 
and secretly bought com of other tenants of the lord, representing 
The purchased corn to be of another manor, therefore only liable to 
the *Move socome" (twenty-fourth vessel), having been dried by 
other than the lord's fuel, — such offender, if convicted, was fined at 
the lord's will. 



44 HISTORY OF 

harm, and coming from a distance, were overcome by 
arrest executed by the offended, &c. ; and those who 
concealed the transgressor, or were remiss in securing 
him, brought upon themselves the amercements of the 
court. Any tenant who became a rebel, engaged to for- 
feit his term of lands, and to remove out of the manor 
and parish. The free tenants daring to dispute the 
customs of the manor deservedly incurred the loss of 
their tenements, and also the love of the superior. A 
fighter was liable to a penalty of half-a-mark for his first 
offence ; if still contumacious, he forfeited a mark ; and 
a third violation of the peace raised the fine to twenty 
shillings. A resetter of such disorderlies was also to 
abide the sentences of the inquest for his officiousness. — 
The document enumerating the forms in the Parish 
Church, and the families by whom they were occupied in 
the fifteenth century, will be treated of in the account of 
the Church. 

In the earliest history of Norman tenures (says Dr. 
Hibbert) the lord of Assheton had absolute power of life 
and death ; strong dungeons were constructed near the 
manor house, the remains of which still appear ; and a 
meadow near the town, still called Gallows-field, was 
selected for a place of summary execution. But as civil 
liberty gained ground the severity of the feudal system 
was ameliorated by the institution of the Court Baron, 
which in time became necessary to constitute a manor. 

Having brought this copious, but, I fear, faint eluci- 
dation of the customs of Ash ton manor in 1422, to a 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. 45 

close, it will be proper to describe tbe privileges and 
customs subsequently acquired or claimed. 

I find that Sir Thomas de Assheton, the son and 
successor of Sir John, preferred a claim in the reign of 
Henry YI. to the exercise of the rights of piccage, wcif, 
stray, theol. picag. et stalag. (Memoranda in Latin, 
Keurden fol. MS., p. 54.) — Piccage was money paid at 
fairs for breaking ground for booths ; weif, a right to 
things which have no owners ; stray, a claim to impound 
stray cattle, kc. ; theol., toll, (toll of passage I presume); 
stalag., payments for the privilege of having stalls in the 
fairs or markets. 

Of all the nmnerous usages of the manor, there is 
none so remarkable and perhaps none the origin of which 
it is so difficult to discover, as *' the custom of riding the 
Black Lad," the parading through the streets of the 
figure of a man in black apparel placed on horseback, a 
ceremony occurring annually on Easter-Monday, and 
possessed of great attractive powers to strangers. There 
is scarcely a topographer general or local, in print or in 
manuscript, who has described Ashton, and omitted to 
express liis opinions concerning the *' Black I^ad.*' It is 
reasonably inferred from the entire silence of the custom 
roll and rental of 1422 on the subject, that the custom 
h?ul not then commenced ; yet '^ Rauf of Ashton," after- 
wards named '* the Black Knight of Middleton," whom 
Dr. Hibbert conjectures to have been the original of the 
j)ersonified, was living at the period referred to, but 
})robably those appalling acts of his galling tyranny, if 



46 HISTORY OF 

lie were the execrated, the memory of which continue 
after upwards of three centuries have expired, had not 
then heen perpetrated. The date of the commencement 
of this custom is by one author placed in the latter end 
of the reign of Edward IV. Douce (MS. notes) speaks 
of it in these terms : " It is said to have arisen from 
there having been formerly a Black Knight who resided 
in these parts, holding the people in vassalage, and using 
them with great severity." The best received and most 
probable accounts of the causes of this commemoration, 
trace it to an ancient feeling of the inhabitants to mark 
with detestation, wanton acts of tyranny that occurred 
when the arbitrary sway of the feudal system was dimi- 
nishing before comparative independence of action and 
liberty of speech of all classes. Dr. Aikin names the 
recorded share which Sir Raphe Assheton is believed to 
have taken in the acts producing this custom, but is of 
opinion from the sum allowed out of the manor to fit up 
the effigy, and from the existence of a suit of armour 
formerly placed upon it, and other matters, that Thomas 
de Assheton (whom he erroneously states to have been 
knighted) instituted the observance to commemorate his 
prowess at the Battle of Durham, or Neville Cross, in 
1346, 19th Edward III., where he captured the standard 
of the King of Scotland. The doctor adds : he left the 
sum of ten shillings to fit up the figure, with his own 
suit of black velvet, and a coat of mail, of which the 
helmet is remaining. It must be again remarked that 
the custom roll and rental drawn up seventy-six years 
after the battle of Neville Cross, is destitute of any men- 
tion of the custom. In a metrical tale of tradition published 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 47 

in Harrop's Manchester Volunteer, the Black Knight is 
represented to have imprisoned a member of the family 
of Staley and a daughter of a Staley in the dungeons of 
Ashton : the story is altogether merely a flight of fiction. 
The '* true and faithful" relation of the origin, contained 
in a connnunication to a society at the New Inn, Ashton, 
is egregiously absurd. The proficiency of Sir Thomas 
de Assheton in the "'black'' art of alchymy has led to a 
supposition of his having been the original of the Black 
Knight. — Bell's Gazetteer states Sir Ralph Assheton to 
have been shot as he was riding down the principal street 
of the town, on one of his Easter-Monday visitations, and 
the inhabitants to have taken no trouble to discover the 



Dr. Hibbert, now Dr. Ware, has supplied a detailed 
and laboured essay on the subject, full of ingenious 
conjectures and cogent inference ; yet apparently 
void of instances of acts sufficiently vicious to justify 
such long-continued imprecation. He has discovered, in 
the rent-roll of Sir John de Assheton, the terms '' guld 
rode" in connexion with '' Rauf and Robyn of Assheton," 
who held the *' guld rode;'' and they are considered to 
imply the observance, at Ashton-under-Lyne, of the 
ancient Scottish custom of guld riding,"^ a perambulation 
of lords of manors, or by their representatives or officials* 
to examine the lands of the tenantr}^ in search of the weed 



• The custom of guld riding is retained at Cargill, in Perth- 
shire, to the present day.— (Statis. Act, 15,536, 537, Rev. J. Ban- 
nerman, quoted by Dr. Hibbert.) 



48 IIISTOUY OF 

(^idd, or gool, and to punish, by fine, the farmers who 
suHered their growth. llie words guld rode might 
indicate a tenement perhaps overgrown with gool, held 
by "' Rauf and Robyn ;*' yet rode is to be taken to mean 
ride. Rauf became Sir Raphe Assheton of Middleton, 
and to his severe exercise of the privilege of guld-riding, 
retained for life, (in the manor of Assheton, though he 
was of another manor) Dr. Hibbert ascribes the rise of 
'* Riding the Black Lad;" while the majority of writers 
on the matter believe Sir Raphe to have earned his ill- 
fame by an arbitrary act of his vice-constableship. He 
was appointed to this office in 1486, at the accession of 
Richard III. A copy of his commission is to be seen in 
Rymer's Foedera. 

The Sour Carr, a large extent of low w^et land in the 
vicinity of Ashton, was overrun in the days of Sir John 
de Assheton with corn marigolds, the Scottish carr-gulds, 
which were deemed so destructive to the growth of corn 
that rigorous measures of manorial regulation were 
enforced for their extirpation. Such farmers as permitted 
a profusion of the carr-guld to be found on their lands 
suffered by fine, imprisonment in the stocks, or incar- 
ceration, on the visit of the carr-guld riders, upon a 
certain day in spring, supposed to have been Easter- 
Monday. The obnoxious black knight. Sir Raphe of 
Middleton, was designated the '* Black Boy" from wear- 
ing black armour. In executing his duties of search 
after carr-gulds he appeared at Ashton annually, mounted 
on a charger, and attended by a numerous train of fol- 
lowers. The tenants of Ashton regarded his interference 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 49 

as the tyrannical intrusion of a stranger. At tlie present 
day the name of the Black Boy excites feelings of 
horror, and tradition has indeed perpetuated the prayer 
which was fervently ejaculated for a deliverance from 
his tyranny : — 

•* Sweet Joso, for tii} merry's sake, 
And for thy bitter passion ; 
Save us fioin the axe of the Tower, 
And from Sir Raphe of Asslicton." 

On the death of the dreaded guld-rider, the heir and 
successor of Sir Thomas de Assheton (not Sir John as 
usually asserted) abolished the unpopular usage of guld- 
riding, and charged upon the estate a small sum of money 
to bear the costs of a yearly celebration of disapproval of 
tlic oppression of Sir Raphe. The custom is maintained 
at present on the memorable Easter-Monday. An effigy 
is made of a man in armour ; and since the arbi.rary 
kniglit was the son of a second marriage, (which for this 
reason had been esteemed by the heir of Sir John as an un- 
fortunate match,) the figure is now deridingly emblazoned 
with the initial letters of the name of the last couple tliat 
are linked together in the course of the year. The 
ii:?ure is then placed on horseback, and after a march 
througli the town, followed by a coarse vulgar crowd and 
a throng of inquiring strangers, it is dismounted ; and all 
fire arms beinir duly primied for the occasion, the mock 
representation of the Black Knight is quickly destroyed. 

After all the profound reasoning of Dr. Ilibbert on tlie 
matter, there is yet vacancy for additional research. His 
conjectures are urged with a])parent probability ; but it is 



50 HISTORY OF 

difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that a more 
atrocious act than the extirpating of corn marigolds must 
have led to a practice so deeply marked with expressions 
of abhorrence to those whose infamy is thus perpetuated 
for centuries. Mr. Baines very properly observes : — 
*' Supposing this account (Dr. Hibbert's) to be correct, it 
is manifest that the offence of Sir Ralph in obliging the 
farmers to keep their grounds free from weeds, was not 
of so heinous a nature as to require to be expiated by 
centuries of execrations, and the solemnity might now be 
permitted to cease, without any detriment to the moral 
feeling of the place." (Lancashire, 12mo., vol. 1, p. 494.) 

The Town and Parish were, for centuries, governed 
solely by the officers appointed at the courts of the manor, 
which will be duly noticed in the account of the local 
government. To the west of the Old Hall stretched two 
Parks, amply stored with vert and venison, and on their 
])orders stood the corn-mill of the manor, at which the 
tenants were bound to have their corn ground, or to 
suffer condign punishment. The principal ancient places 
within Ashton Town Division are Ryecroft^ now a west 
suburb of the tow^n, originally a farm, which was held in 
1422 by Robert de Wright, the principal tenant at will 
of Sir John de Assheton ; Currier-Lane^ a suburb, built 
in the last century : Throstle J\^est^ a village half-a-mile 
east of the town ; and Park Hall^ a venerable house. 

Historical Events. — Of the state of Ashton in many 
reigns succeeding the erection of the Old Hall and the 
Church we know little, except what is related of the 



ASIITON-UNDER-LYNE. 51 

Asshetons. — The place was a small village for several 
centuries. In the days of the spirited Queen Elizabeth, 
the feasts of the dedication of the churches, or the local 
festivals named U^akes^ had become such irreligious 
affairs that it was deemed requisite to sup2:)ress the 
** Sunday piping, drinking, profanity, bear and bull 
baiting, &cc." Accordingly the Bishop of Chester and 
others waged an exterminating war for some time against 
the sabbath fiddlers and fuddlers : they did not succeed, 
however, in effectually abolishing wakes, for about fifty 
years afterwards they were revived with nearly all their 
ancient attractions : and, to this day, annual local festivals 
are yet held, partaking, in a slight degree, of the liveliness 
of the early English pastimes ; bear and bull baiting are, 
however, happily uncommon ; and though there is still 
much intemperance and profanity, there are indications 
of a growing taste for mental amusements. 

** Now many a humble group is seen, 
By cottage hearth or village green, 
With sparkling eyes and joyous looks^ 
All poring eager o'er their books ; 
"While curly locks and haffets grey, 
Glist in the light of mental day.** 

The doctrines of the Protestants were extensively 
preached in this place during the reign of Mary, by John 
Bradford, a native of Manchester, and a zealous minister 
and martyr. 

If this parish escaped the sequestration of the pro- 
perty of the royalists, in 1646, it was not exempt from 

Y 



rZ HISTORY OF 

the visitation of the Bartholomew Act, by which the 
rector was ejected, in 1662. 

Daring the seventeenth century, owing to a scarcity 
of small coin, tradesmen frequently coined pence, for the 
purpose of provincial circulation. Mr. Barritt has pre- 
served a drawing of one of the trade tokens of Ash ton ; 
it is thus inscribed on the obverse : — " George Bardslay in 
Ashton-under-lyne," and on the reverse '^ G. B. E. 1669." 

For nearly two centuries, the seventeenth and part of 
the eighteenth, the to^vn underwent but a trifling change ; 
in extent, the place was merely a moderate-sized vil- 
lage; the houses were chiefly in the immediate vicinity 
of the hall and church, and were principally of a rude 
construction, being low and thatched. The primitive 
methods of spinning and weaving, combined with hus- 
bandry and gardening, formed the occupations of the 
population, whose manners w^ere free and jocose. 

In the days of Queen Anne, many of the cottages let 
at two shillings each per annum, in consequence of the 
non-existence of large manufactories to impart a com- 
parative high value to property. As la;te as the reign of 
George XL, 1750, the whole town was contained in four 
narrow dark streets, formed by mean-looking dwellings. 

A number of stragglers from the rebel army of 1745, 
visited the district, and dispossessed a few farmers of 
horses. A serious shock of an earthquake occurred on 
Sunday, the 14th of September, 1777, — the congregation 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. 53 

in the church were much disturbed by the shaking of the 
pews. The progress of the cotton manufacture, and tlie 
results produced by its estabUshment, form the subject 
of a separate article. In the latter part of the last 
century the cotton trade was in its infancy, and though 
the town was then much increased by means of com- 
mercial enterprise, the ultimate consequences arising 
from the extraordinary spread of trade were not fully 
developed until the second or third decennial periods of 
the present century. In the view of the town, published 
in Aikin's iSIanchester, in 1795, the appearance is partly 
rural and partly town-like, and there seems to have been 
scarcely a dwelling south of Old-street, and only two 
houses adjacent to Dukinfield-bridge. The buildings 
and streets increased rapidly from 1810 to 1824; yet in 
the latter year, the houses to the west of Mill-lane were 
fevv ; the banks of the canal and the Tame were almost 
destitute of dwellings and mills ; the space from Old- 
street to Charlestown consisted principally of gardens, 
intersected by a foot-path ; west of Oldham-road there 
was not one street ; and north of the Old Cross stretched 
an expanse of fields to Hurst. 

During the last fifteen years the place has rapidly 
augmented, so that Mill-lane is nearly become the centre 
of the town ; the banks of the canal and the Tame lire 
now lined by numerous streets ; the area betwixt Old- 
street and Charlestown is nearly all built upon, and a 
portion of it foims a spacious Market-place, on the north 
side of which is erected an elegant and large Town Hall ; 
the fields formerly bordering on the north of the Old 

F 2 



54 HISTORY OF 

Cross have been transformed into street avenues ; the 
east side of the Rectory has received a large accession of 
habitations ; the west side of Oldham-road is become a 
portion of the town ; and the vicinities of Henry-square 
and St. Peter's Church abound with new edifices. 

When the era of building set in with spirit, a praise- 
worthy care was invariably manifested to secure regularity 
in the plans of the erections ; and hence, by continued 
uniformity being preserved in the construction of the 
streets, Ashton-under-Lyne has been rendered the most 
elegant ordinary town in the county. The beneficial 
system of education pursued in Sunday Schools was first 
introduced here in 1790. 

In the course of the afternoon of a dismal day in 
January, 1791, the place was visited by an awful thunder 
storm ; a vast accumulation of electric matter seemed to 
collect over the town, and between fiye and six in the 
evening, the clouds burst with a tremendous explosion, 
which occasioned an involuntary exclamation of horror 
through the place. Lightning struck the church steeple, 
and melted a part of the vane: a number of stones were 
thrown from the belfry, where an iron rod was fused by 
the fluid, and many pews in the west end of the church 
and in the Earl of Stamford's chapel were shivered to 
atoms. 

The threats of an invasion of England by the French 
in 1803, put the whole country in military array, — the 
volunteer system now became general, — and the patriotic 



ASHTON-TJNDER-LYNE. 56 

flame burning with much vigour in the hearts of the 
Ashtonians, the Ashton voUinteers were embodied with 
no sHght degree of formality and tact; and Jolm Wood, 
Esq., of the Old Hall, one of the principal cotton manu- 
facturers, was appointed commander. This formidable 
body of men were, fortunately for the peace of the 
country, unenaged in any exploits of national strife, 
doubtless much to the regret of such a " valorous and 
puissant legion,*' many of whom professed eagerness to 
be hailed as deliverers of their country. 

*' A memorable phenomenon, at once terrific and 
t>ublime, occurred in the district between the Medlock 
and the Tame on Thursday, June 19th, 1817 : — at four 
o'clock on the afternoon of that day, an unusual darkness 
came on, and prevailed about twenty minutes, duriuL^ 
which period, successive flashes of lightning served to 
render the ' darkness visible,' and hailstones fell, or rather 
irregular prisms of ice, of from four to six inches in 
diameter. The storm swept along the plain from Harts- 
head, by Mossley and Hazle-hurst, and terminated witli 
the parish of Ashton, to the west of Stalybridge. The 
wind was from the north-west, and the glass in every 
window bearing that aspect in the whole range of that 
part of the parish was demolished, though no other 
ver}- material mischief was done." (Baincs, Vol. 1, 12mo., 
p. 494.) A destructive fire broke out in the Parish Church 
on the 30th of March, 1821.— ^See article Church.)— The 
coronations of George IV., William IV., and Victoria, 
were commemorated here by splendid public entertain- 
ments. 2 

T 3 



56 HISTORY OF 

Shortly after Whit-Monday, 1827, the town was first 
lighted by means of that useful and important modern 
discovery, coal gas. 

In 1832 the legislature effected an extensive change 
in the representation of the people, by granting members 
to the principal unrepresented towns : by this measure 
Ashton-under-Lyne was constituted a parliamentary 
borough. — (See article Representation.) — A most afflict- 
ing event occurred on Sunday evening, the 6th January, 
1 833 : six boys were thoughtlessly at play together upon 
the ice of a pit at the top of Cricket's-lane, which, being 
but slightly frozen, gave way, and all the juvenile com- 
pany were immersed in a watery grave ; a middle-aged 
man was also drowned in attempting to rescue the boys. 

As in all thoroughly manufacturing districts, where 
immense numbers of the diligent operatives are employed 
by a few enterprising capitalists, lamentable disputes have 
prevailed here on the subject of the rate of wages : thus 
in 1829 thousands of hands were unemployed for a con- 
siderable period, owing to the want of an amicable feeling 
betwixt the employers and the employed ; whilst some 
of the masters, it is probable, have been largely influenced 
by the desire of gain, the operatives have been generally 
indiflerent to their own individual welfare. A large 
number of the factory operatives are intelligent, energetic, 
and active ; but the great mass are of coarse and low 
habits. 

The town of Ashton-under-Lyne is even now in 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 57 

course of considerable extension and improvement, and 
yet the manufacturers complain of depression of trade ; 
still there are decided indications tliat the place is to 
increase materially. 

The Parish Church was originally a chapel of 
case to the Parish Church of Manchester. When it 
was tirst founded is unknown ; but mention is made of 
*'ecclesia Aston" in the return of livings taken by order 
of Pope Nicholas IV., in 1291. In a deed relative to the 
advowson dated in 130 1, this church is termed the Chapel 
of Ashton, — the patronage was then in the lords of 
Manchester. The patronage did not become vested in 
the Asshetons until 1427; and probably the church 
was rendered parochial about that period. During the 
life-time of Sir Thomas Assheton, who died in 1516, the 
church was greatly repaired and enlarged, and a new 
tower erected. For several generations there were no 
changes in the structure ; but in 1791, many of the pews 
having been seriously damaged by a storm, the body of 
the church was re-pewed in 1792, at the cost of the seat 
holders, and the roof was painted and plastered at the 
expense of the parish. The present handsome tower was 
erected in 1820, and the whole of the north side of the 
church was rebuilt in 1821. Whilst these improvements 
were in progress an alarming fire broke out, in the interior 
part, on the evening of Satiu'day, the 30th March, 1821, 
owing to one of the flues under the west gallery being 
overheated. The flames spread their destructive ravages 
to all the timber around the place where they originated, 
and before they could be suppressed the valuable fine- 



58 HISTORY OF 

toned organ was completely consumed, and several 
antique carvings shared the same fate. Though the north 
side of the church and the tower were both rebuilt, and 
the body of the edifice restored to its usual condition, the 
south side remained in its ancient decayed state until the 
year 1840; w^hen, owing to the liberality of the patron 
of the rectory and lord of the manor, that portion was 
rebuilt, in a style corresponding with the rest. The first 
stone w^as laid May 18th, 1840, by N. Howard, Esq. 
The ancient porch, a pleasing specimen of early ecclesi- 
astical architecture, has been duly restored. The tower 
was slightly burnt by accident March 21st, 1841. 

This Church is dedicated to St. Michael. The living 
is a rectory, of which the annual value in 1291, according 
to Pope Nicholas's valuation, was fifteen marks, or £10; 
the yearly value in the king's books of the reign of Henry 
VIIL, was £26 13s. 4d., tenths, £2 13s, 4d. ;^ its 
estimated annual value in the recent parliament returns, 
1833, is £1409. The tithes have been commuted for 
fixed rates, in pursuance of a recent act of parliament, 
passed 1831. The Grelles, as lords of Manchester, are 
the earliest patrons of the advowson on record ; but, in 
1304, William de Marchia, parson of Manchester, 
usurped the patronage, in place of Thomas Grelle. The 
De la Warres were subsequently patrons by right of 
relationship to the Grelles. 

In 1427, " Magistcr"' Thomas de la Wane, Baron 

■* The Parliamentary Inquisition of 1650, states the value at £113 
68. 8d. 



ashtox-under-Lyne. 59 

and Rector of Manchester, conveyed the advowson and 
glebe of the church of "Assheton'' to Sh* John de 
'' Asshetown." (Harleian MSS., codex 2085, fo. 410.)— 
The descendants of Sir John Assheton have retained the 
patronagre, ^vit]l a few exceptions ; and it is at present 
vested in tlie Karl of Stamford and Warrington. 

According to a deed without date, but apparently 
relating to the thirteenth century, Swioii de Cranesley^ 
clerk, was parson of Ashton, on the presentation of the 
Lord of Manchester. 

It is probable that Simon Cranesley w^as succeeded in 
the rectory by John Huntington^ or Huntingdon, B.D., 
who was the first Warden of Manchester, instituted 
1422. Hollingworth, the historian of Manchester, thus 
describes the first warden ; — '' a man learned in the 
learning of those times, veiy devout and magnificent '. 
hee built the chancel or quire, (Manchester) in the midst 
whereof and just before the high altar, as then it stood, 
he lies buried, with the suitable inscription, ^ Domini, 
dilexi decorem domus tuae.' His rebus or name-devyse, 
(device — a custome borrowed from the French) is to bee 
seene on either syde of the middle arch, as it looketh 
eastward : on the syde is an huntsman with dogges, 
whereby hee thought to expresse two former sillables of 
his name, — Hunting; on the other syde, a vessell called a 
tonne, which being joined together makes Huntington. *''^' 

♦ HollingAvorth's Mancuniensis, TN'illis's edition, p. 43-44. — 
Camden's Remains. — Baines, 4to., vol. 2, p. 19G-7 — Aston's Man- 
chester, p. 34. 



60 HISTORY OF 

This eminent ecclesiastic held his dignified station thirty- 
seven years, and died November 11, 1458. 

From 1458 to 1554 there are no records extant as 
to the rectors. In 1554, on the 20th August, Tf^illiam 
Roger son was instituted rector, on the presentation of 
Thomas Stanley, Knt. This divine retained the living 
only a short period ; for on the 12th June, 1557, Hugo 
Griffs Do(!tor in Divinity, was appointed the clergyman, 
by the gift of King Philip and Queen Mary. Another 
defect in the list of rectors ensues, from the time of Dr. 
Griff to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when 
Robert Parker^ A. M. , occurs as rector. The first 
notice of him is in 1608. He died February, 1618, and 
was succeeded by Henry Fairfax^ D. D., son of Lord 
Cameron. This incumbent is stated, by Herbert,^' to 
have been a regular and sober man, well affected to 
God and the king." He seems to have been much 
attached to episcopacy, and hence incurred the dislike of 
the PrCwsbyterian party, then the most powerful body in 
the state. Notwithstanding the great influence of his 
brother and nephew with the then rulers, he was obliged 
to surrender the rectory in 1650, and fled to Bolton Percy, 
in Yorkshire.! He is said to have been a prebend of 
York. He died April 6th, 1665, aged 77.— John Har- 
rison was inducted rector, by a party of soldiers, accord- 
ing to the manner of the times (1650), for a fierce spiritual 
warfare w^as raging betwixt the Episcopalians and Pres- 
byterians. Walker asserts that Harrison rifled Dr. 

* Country Parson, f Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy. 



ASHTON-rNDEH-LYNi:. 61 

Fairfaxes books and papers ; but the statements of writers 
tinged with partisanship must be cautiously received. 
The ecclesiastical commissioners of the commonwealth, 
who were by no means admirers of episcopacy, pronounce 
Harrison to have been *' a painful (pains-taking) able 
minister ;** and state that he '* was put in by the parlia- 
ment." These commissioners urgently recommended a 
division of parishes, for the purpose of rendering the 
clergy comparatively equal, in labour as well as income ; 
They therefore proposed in their report, dated July 18, 
1650,t " that a Parish Church be built at Alt-Edge, 
distant about three miles and a half from the Parish 
Church of Ashton." This project was not carried into 
effect, and Alt-Edge still remains destitute of either 
church or chapel, although there has been a vast increase 
of population since that period. — Mr. Harrison possessed 
the rector}' till the 24th of August, 1662, when he was 
obliged, by act of parliament, to conform to the doctrines 
of the Church of England, or resign. He made choice 
of the latter, and consequently ceased to be incumbent : 
it was at this time that not only the Presbyterians but the 
Independents had become considerable in numbers. It is 
doubtful who was Harrison's successor : but Thomas 
EUiso7i was rector in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century : he is commemorated by a tablet in the churcli, 
and died 1700. — The next incumbent was Jolui de la 
Heuze, or de la Howe, who was instituted May 3rd, 
1700: he died January 1 5th, 1726; and was followed by 



T Parliamentfin Surveys of Church Lands, Lambeth Library, No. 
912, fo. 260. 



62 HISTORY OF 

John Penny ^ A.M., who was collated March 3rd, 1726, 
and is recorded on a monument to have died July 9th, 
1758. — His successor was the Itev. Sir George Booths 
Bart., presented September 9th, 1758, a cousin of Lord 
Delamere, on whose death he became a baronet January 
9th, 1770. Su' George expired in 1797 ; and the suc- 
ceeding rector was Oswald Leycester^ A. M., who was 
inducted December 1, 1797 ; but resigned shortly after- 
wards, for the Hon. Ancliitel Grey., A. M., third son of 
the fifth Earl of Stamford, was instituted to the living 
April 5th, 1 799. He resigned the incumbency in March, 
1810 ; and his successor was John Hutchinson., B. A., 
appointed May 7th, 1810, who resigned January 24th, 
1816; and was succeeded by George Chetwode^ A.M., 
the present rector, the date of whose induction is May 
16, 1816. This reverend gentleman was chaplain to his 
late Majesty, William IV., when Duke of Clarence, and 
is nephew of the present Earl of Stamford. — The Rev. 
Jonathan Craddock, who became curate of the Parish 
Church in 1758, was locally eminent for his promotion of 
topographical studies. — The Rev John Handforth is the 
present curate of this church. — The Rectory-House is 
a modern edifice, a short distance to the east of the 
parochial pile. 

The registers of baptisms and marriages commence 
in 1594, and those of burials in 1596 ; but the numerical 
results of the bills of mortality, as indicative of the state 
of population, are treated of in another article. During 
the period of the commonwealth marriages were solem- 
nized here by the magistrates, John Gwillym and Edmund 
Hopwood, Esqrs. 



ASHTOy-UNDER-LYNE. 



63 



The Churcli, considered entire, is spacious and well 
built ; the north side, though hut a recent re-erection, 
appears weather-beaten ; the south portion is a very late 
restoration : and the tower is a handsome lofty fabric, of 
modern date. The style of the architecture is decorative 
LTothic, of which the porch presents an excellent example. 

A triangular shield was caned on the north side of 

the ancient tower, charged with a mullet, the arms of 

Ashton, impaling the arms of Staley of Staley, respecting 

whom Dr. Aikin says a popular tale was current, probably 

a terrilic legend of some act of feudal character. The 

nature of the tmdition seems, however, to be lost. The 

arms on the steeple evidently alluded to the union of the 

families of Ashton and Staley. — The interior of the church 

formerly bore strong '' marks testimonial of its antiquity,"' 

and was ornamented by — 

'* The high ernhowed roof, 
AVith antique pillars' massy proof." 

The present appearance of the interior is by no means 
agreeable ; the stately columns and the springing arches, 
the carved timbers and the numerous pew s, are in a rude 
condition, and require considerable improvement. There 
is said to be an intention to renovate the whole interior, 
in the perpendicular gothic style, from designs of Mr. 
Tattersall. 

The east window, which is large, contains many frag- 
ments of stained glass ; but they are so much mutilated 
as to be nearly illegible, — the subjects of representation 
seem to be scriptural. A portion of the pulpit is decorated 

G 



^4 HISTORY OF 

by ancient car\ ing. There were formerly several singular 
ligures under the seats of the pews; and one of those 
relics of Catholic faith, a Rood gallery, or place for the 
celebration of the rites of the cross, existed in the nave, 
but was removed in 1792. 

The monumental memorials of this place are nume- 
rous, but not extraordinary. In the church-yard, a short 
distance from the north side of the tower, is a tomb, 
bearing the subjoined inscription : — 

" Here resteth the body of John Leach, of Hurst, buried the 
16th day of October, 1689, aged 92 years, who, by Ann his wife, 
had issue twelve children ; and, in his time, was father to twelve, 
grandfathg: to seventy-five, great-grandfather to ninety-two, great- 
great-grandfather to two, in ail one hundred and eighty-one persons." 

Upon the tomb there has been sculptured the arms of 
the Leach family ; on the top there are traces of the figure 
of a serpent, which tradition says he kept tame in his 
house ; and beneath is inscribed the motto " J^irtus est 
venerahilis.'^ We are not informed what kind of serpent 
this pet of the aged Leach was ; but probably its nature 
was innoxious. A descendant of the sire, Mr. Joseph 
Leach, who was resident at Hurst-Cross in 1833, pre- 
served the board whereon the serpent is said to have fed 
and reposed. 

In the interior of the church is a neat mural slab, 

thus inscribed : — 

" To the memory- of John Brown, lieutenant in the 44th regi- 
ment, who fell on the 13th of March, 1801, in his 20th year, in an 
attack made by his Majesty's forces on the fortified heights before 
Alexandria, in Egj'pt. 



ASHTOX-UXPER-LYXE. 65 

Reader, this monument records, descriptive of his worth, 
his dying words : — 

"NVlicn on Aboukir's blood-stain' d shore, 
He heiu'd undaunted the loud cannon's roar ; 
And marching boldly onward met the ball, 
The fatal cause of his lamented fall : 
He said, * If this be death I feel no pain, 
Happy I die.' Such hope of heavenly gain, — 
Religion, loyalty, and corn-age tried, 
Afforded liim, who for his country died." 

A small tablet, on the north side of the interior, 
commemorates John Posethwaite, whom it records to 
•'have sustained the highest honours of masonry without 
pride:" he died February 2nd, 1818, aged 70 years, 
'' preserved from indigence by the bounty of his friends.'' 
Several ordinary monuments are in memory of the Re^". 
Thomas Ellison, died 1700; Rev. John Penny, died 
1758 ; George Mower, gent., died 1758 ; Joshua Old- 
ham, gent., died 1785 ; John Wych, gent., died 1806 ; 
John Lees, gent., died 1812 ; and Samuel Swire, son of 
Samuel Swire, gent., died 1786, and others of that family. 
In the church-yard are inscriptions recording the Rev. 
Jonathan Catlow, who was curate here tw^enty-one years, 
died June 1st, 1746 ; and William Barlow, Esq., lieu- 
tenant-colonel in the 12th foot, who died October 25th, 
1790, aged 81. 

An excellent peal of ten bells, placed in the lofty 
tower of the Parish Church, affords to the ringers a 
favourable opportunity for becoming clever in ringing ; 
hence Ashton is famous for steeple music. 

G 2 



66 HISTORY OF 

For several centuries St. Michaers was the only 
episcopal church in Ashton ; but, owing to the great 
increase of population, the parochial pile has been con- 
sidered, for many years, insufficient to accommodate the 
inhabitants; accordingly, in 1821, subscriptions were 
entered into for the purpose of erecting a new church ; 
a liberal grant being procured from the parliamentary 
commissioners for the erection of additional churches, 
and a site comprising 15,680 square yards having been 
presented by Lord Stamford, the first stone of St. 
Peter's, or The JVew Church, was laid October 24th, 
1821, by the Right Rev. George Henry Law, the Lord 
Bishop of Chester. This episcopal church was conse- 
crated December 12th, 1824. Its situation is adjacent 
to Stamford-place, near the western extremity of the 
town. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed by 
seat-rents, surplice fees, &c. The annual value, as 
returned in 1833, w^as £137. Patron, the Rector of 
Ashton. The structure is a rich specimen of the deco- 
rative gotliic style ; the architect was the celebrated 
Francis Goodwin, Esq., of London. The body of the 
building, as well as the tower, is highly decorated, and 
in the eastern wall is a spacious rose window. This 
pleasing edifice forms an appropriate termination to that 
elegant avenue, Stamford-street. The sum of £14,000 
was appropriated to the erection, which is calculated to 
h(jkl 1800 persons, and 1390 of the sittings out of that 
number are free, and appropriated to the use of the poor. 
The area of the church is 142 by 65 feet, and the height 
of the tower is 128 feet. The first and present incum- 
bent is the Rev. John Hutchinson, A.M., for many years 
the respected rector of the parish. 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. 67 

The Catholics possessed a meeting-room in Ashton 
in 1823, in Harrop's-yard, a narrow passage near the 
Market Cross, where they assembled for worship till 
November, 1825; when the Catholic Chapel, in Astley- 
street, Dukinfield, being completed, the congregation 
removed thither ; and that is now become the only 
church of the society for the town of Ashton and the 
village of Dukinfield. 

The Independents have existed here, in a small 
degree, since the secession of the sect from the English 
Presbyterians, in the seventeenth century ; but they were 
destitute of a regular place of woi^ship until a recent 
period. In 1795-6 attempts were made to establish a 
societ}% but these efforts failed. In 1806, however, a 
chapel of the sect was erected, in Dukinfield, and named 
"Providence;" but this appearing to many an unwise 
proceeding, a meeting-room was opened in the town of 
Ashton in 1815. By further exertions a chapel was 
built, near Cricket's-lane, and was opened April 9th, 
1817. In a few years afterwards (1820) Providence 
Chapel became connected with the Secession Church of 
Scotland ; and the Independents of Ashton having com- 
paratively increased in numbers and in wealth, the chapel 
of 1817, calculated to accommodate 500 persons, became 
too small, and was superseded by the present spacious 
and striking edifice, which was erected in 1838, and 
contains seats for 1000 persons. Its cost was £4000. 

The Wesleyan Methodists were established in Ash- 
ton prior to 1781, from which time to 1801, they had a 
G 3 



68 HISTORY OF 

chapel in Harrop's-yard. In 1804 the chapel in Stam- 
ford-street was erected ; and in 1815 it was enlarged and 
considerably improved. 

The J\rew Connexion Methodists are a large body, 
and have flourished in this district for many years. The 
spacious and neat chapel of this society is in Stamford- 
street, and was originally commenced in 1799. The 
edifice has received several decorations of late years. 

The Independent Methodists began to assemble for 
worship in Ashton about 1818-19. In 1823 they had 
a meeting-room in New, or Stamford-street ; but in 1838 
the present chapel in Wellington-road, Charlestown, was 
erected. 

The Primitive Methodists prevailed in this town 
prior to 1823, and have still a meeting-room. 

The Saptists have a small place of worship in 
Oldham-road, of recent date. 

The Stephensites originated in the secession of the 
Rev. J. R. Stephens from the Wesleyan Methodists. 
The admirers of this singularly distinguished personage 
erected, in 1837, a large but plain building for worship, 
in Charlestown, which is calculated to accommodate 
1100 persons. 

The Israelites^ commonly called Johannites^ from 
their belief in the doctrines of Johanna Southcote, had 



ASIITON-UNDER-LYNE. 69 

become so numerous here in 1823 that they had a room 
in Charlestown. In 1825 they erected a commodious 
and well-finished chapel in Church-street, which was 
opened on Christmas-Day, in that year. This sect were 
once considerable in extent. The peculiarity of their 
opinions, and the oddity of their appearance, imparted 
an extraordinary notoriety to the society. At each of 
the four cardinal points of the outskirts of the town they 
erected a species of temple, called, in the shibboleth of 
the sect, "The Northern," ''The Southern," "The 
Eastern,'"and "The Western" Gates of the Temple of 
the Children of Israel. These edifices are no longer 
either inhabited by the high priests or the low priests of 
the Israelitish fraternity, having passed out of the hands 
of the body, who were in a flourishing condition from 
1825 to 1833-5. 

The Local Government of the town and parish was, 
for several centuries, vested entirely in the officers ap- 
pointed by the court leet for the manor, held in October, 
yearly ; and these officers consisting of a Mayor, Con- 
stables, Assistant Constables, Bye-law Men, Market 
Lookers, and minor officials, are still chosen at the court 
leet, and exercise authority over the manor. — Owing to 
the election of a functionary, named a Mayor, the place 
has been erroneously regarded as a corporate borough. — 
Dr. Aikin remarks : " It appears, from a ver}^ ancient 
manuscript in the possession of Joseph Pickford, Esq., 
of Royton, r>ontaining the rent-roll and several very 
curious particulars concerning the estate, drawn at a 
remote period, to have been a borough ; but why the 



70 HISTORY OF 

charter was withdrawn, or by what means the privilege 
was lost, there is no accfount: yet the custom of yearly 
nomination, and the insignia of office, are still kept up 
by the inhabitants."^ On this passage Mr. Baines 
observes : " We have sought in vain for the charter of 
incorporation of this borough ; nor do we find, in any of 
the ancient documents quoted or referred to in this work, 
that it was ever so designated."! — The office of Mayor 
was maintained till the conclusion of the last century, 
when it fell into disuse ; but in 1831 a number of the 
principal inhabitants foreseeing that they would shortly 
be empowered to elect a parliamentary representative* 
and conceiving that the Mayor ought to be the returning 
officer at parliamentary elections, the appointment of this 
local dignitary was resumed. 

The powers of the court leet and its officers were 
fully adequate for the efficient government of the district 
so long as the place was a mere village ; but they proved 
defective for the purposes of the executive when Ashton 
had become a large manufacturing town : therefore, the 
want of something beyond ordinary police was felt, — 
extended means of street regulation and improvement 
were obviously necessary. A bill was, accordingly, 
introduced into the House of Commons, in the early 
part of 1827, for the purpose of ^' lighting, cleansing, 
watching, kc. the town ; for regulating the market, and 
building a new market-place; and for regulating the 
police thereof." This measure was strenuously opposed 

* Aikin's Manchester, 4to., p. 224, 
t Baines* s Lancashire, 4to., vol. 2, p. 553. 



ASHTOX-rNPER-LYNE. 71 

by three public meetings of the inhabitants, as unneces- 
sary and burthcnsome ; but, as Mr. Harrison, the counsel 
tor the opponents, justly observed, such a bill would, 
probably, at some future time, be of advantage to the 
])lace ; it is clear the magnitude of the town rendered 
some police provisions needful. The bill received the 
royal assent June 14th, 1827, 7th and 8th George IV., 
and its powers are vested in certain rated inhabitants, 
named Conmiissioners, by whom police rates are levied. 
The jurisdiction of the act extends over the district called 
Ashton Town Division, which comprehends the town 
and its immediate vicinity : the number of Commissioners 
is necessarily variable. They appoint salaried constables, 
as a deputy and two or three others, who are usually 
appointed constables by the court leet also. The cost of 
the police and watching establishment in the year ending 
June 24th, 1840, was £715 Is. 2d. The town is Hghted 
by contract with the Gas Company. The cleansing of 
the streets and highways, the regulation of the market, 
and the management of the fu'e engines, are directed by 
the Commissioners, who use the arms of Ashton for their 
corporate seal. The rural parts of the parish are governed 
by the County Police, introduced 1840.''^' The Magis- 
trates of the district hold a weekly Petit Sessions in the 
Manor Court-room, or Old Town Hall, on Wednesdays. 
The numl)er of gentlemen in the commission of the peace 
in this locality is comparatively large, probably owing to 
the frequency of crime. The present Magistrates, and 
the dates of their qualifications, are, — the Rev. Joseph 
Saville Robarts Evans, clerk, Woodfield, Stalybridge, 

* ^Vhich cost the district, in that year, £411 ^s. 7d. 



72 HISTORY OF 

January 10th, 1831 ; James Jowett, Esq., Stamford- 
place, Ashton Town, January 12th, 1835; Ralph Ousey, 
Esq., Heyrod, Stalybridge, January 12th, 1835; David 
Harrison, Esq., Cross-House, Stalybridge, January 12th, 
1835; Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P., Dukinfield-Lodge, 
January 1 1th, 1836 ; John Cheetham, Esq., Stalybridge, 
January 11th, 1836: Abel Buckley, Esq., Ryecroft, 
Ashton Town, February 26th, 1838; William Wright, 
Esq., Welbeck- House, Ashton Town, April 15th, 1839; 
James Lord, Esq., Park-parade, Ashton Town, April 
15th, 1839; John Grimshaw, Esq., Audenshaw-Lodge, 
Audenshaw, October 26th, 1840 ; Jonah Harrop, Esq., 
Bardsley-House, Knott-Lanes, October 26th, 1840; and 
John Buckley, Esq., Mossley, July, 1841. 

Ashton-under-Lyne and the adjoining townships of 
Droylsden, Denton, and Haughton, were rendered a 
magisterial division of the county March 1st, 1839. 

A Court of Requests, for the recovery of debts not 
exceeding £5, within the Parish of Ashton, and the 
adjoining townships of Stayley, Dukinfield, Newton, 
Matley, and Hattersley, was established by an act of 
parliament, which received the royal assent June 3rd, 
1808. This Court is held every Thursday fortnight, in 
the Manor Court-room, Ashton, before such of the Com- 
missioners of the court as are in attendance. No. of 
suits in 1837, 1898. 

An extraordinary impulse in favour of a change of the 
representative system in the House of Commons, took 
possession of the public mind in 1831 ; and one of the 



ASHTOX-rXDEK-LYNE. 73 

principal purposes sought to be accomplished b}- this 
change was, to confer on large towns the riglit of repre- 
sentation in the legislature, hence on the 3rd of February, 
1831, a number of inhabitants petitioned for members : 
but in the tirst plan of the Reform Bill, introduced in the 
Commons March 1st, 1831, Ashton-under-Lyne was not 
included in the list of intended parliamentary boroughs. 
This omission was felt by many of the inhabitants as a 
serious defect ; and a public meeting was consequently 
held April 22nd, 1831, to institute proceedings for 
securing a member or members for the Town or for the 
Parish. Messrs. John J. Southam, William Nicholson, 
and John Campbell, M.D., were appointed a deputation 
to take measures for obtaining the insertion of Ashton in 
the Reform Bill. The inclusion of the place in the 
modern Magna Charta was, liowever, not very readily 
obtained : in consequence, it was rumoured, of a fear on 
the part of the framers, to add to tlie interests of Lord 
Stamford, and partly owing to endeavours to have the 
whole Parish, including Stalybridge, enfranchised. About 
June, 1831, the proceedings for obtaining a legislative 
representation of the district were renewed ; and Messrs. 
Charles Hindley and John Campbell, M.D., were chosen 
by a subsequent public meeting, to urge the claims of 
Ashton to parliamentary' notice. On the 13th September, 
1831, Ashton was promised a representative; but the 
proposal that Stalybridge should form a portion of the 
borough seems to have been coolly received by the leadins? 
classes of that place. The idea that Stalybridge ought 
to be a part of a borough, to bear the name of Ashton 
oiily, did not square with their views of politic rank : 



74 HISTORY OF 

iuid, tliercfore, the project was unsuccessful. During 
the sittmg of the Committee of the House of Lords on 
the Reform Bill, May 22nd, 1832, when a motion was 
made that Ashton-under-Lyne be plciced in Schedule D, 
Lord Ellenborough observed, — '' that this town had not 
appeared in the first, nor yet in the second Reform Bill 
that had been brought before parliament. The town of 
Stalybridge was unwilling to have anything to do with 
the franchise in conjunction with Ashton, and Ashton 
had the same disinclination to be united in electing re- 
presentatives with Stalybridge." The Lord Chancellor 
said, " that Ashton-under-Lyne was an important town, 
containing a population of 14,000 or 15,000 inhabitants, 
which was a sufficient reason for giving it representatives. 
It was the fact that Stalybridge, though it wished repre- 
sentation for itself, yet objected to have the franchise in 
conjunction with Ashton ; and there was no love lost — 
(a laugh), — for Ashton had an equal objection to be 
united with Stalybridge. This was unfortunate ; but, 
as was the case sometimes with women, the closeness of 
affection was not in proportion to the proximity of 
situation. — (a laugh.) This dislike on both sides was, 
however, a complete justification for not coupling together 
two reluctant communities. He would just give one 
instance of the extent to which this dislike went. An 
act was passed, some time ago, for the purpose of paving 
and lighting Ashton and the places adjacent ; but a 
positive exception was introduced into the bill, excluding 
Stalybridge from the operation." The Committee agreed 
that Ashton-under-Lyne should stand part of the schedule 
D, thus granting one member to the place. 



\SIITO^^-r^'DER-LYNE. 



75 



The Reform Bill eventually received the royal assent 
June 7th. 1832 ; and, according to its provisions, every 
occupier of certain premises of the yearly value of £10 
is constituted an elector. — The Boundaiy Act, passed 
July llth, 1832, directs that the borough shall extend 
over the whole space of district which is regulated by 
the provisions of an act passed in the 7th and 8th Geo. 
IV., usually entitled the Police Act. The Mayor, whose 
office has been recently revived, is rendered Returning 
Officer, pursuant to the wording of schedule D. Long 
before there was a probability of an early election, the 
electors of Ashton were amply engaged in considering 
the claims of the candidates that were presented for 
parliamentary- honours. The Radical party invited George 
Williams, Esq., of Little Woolton, near Liverpool, once 
a colonel in the army, and at present a magistrate of the 
county, to become an aspirant for legislatorial rank. He 
did so on condition that he w^as elected without incurring 
a personal canvass : such event ultimately occurred. — 
The Liberal Whigs introduced as their candidate, Chas. 
Hindley, Esq. of Dukinfield, master cotton-spinner and 
manufacturer, a talented advocate of free trade ; and he 
w^as extensively supported. — The Conservative party 
were not slow to avail themselves of whatever advantages 
they could derive from position and influence ; and, 
accordingly, Thomas Williams Helps, Esq., of London, 
barrister, the son of a highly respectable merchant, of 
London, who was formerly a manufacturer of Ashton, 
was proposed as the Tory candidate, and received large 
promise^of support. 

H 



76 HISTORY OF 

On Monday, the 12th November, 1832, the first 
Court for the revision of the lists of electors for the 
borough, was held in the Court-house, before H. Law- 
rence, Esq., Revising Barrister. The number of electors 
(qualified to vote amounted, after revision, to 420. The 
parliamentary returns of 1832, relative to the population 
and constituencies of the boroughs, contain the subjoined 
entries: — " Ashton : population, 14,673; qualifying 
tenements, or £10 houses, 610; registered electors, 450; 
assessed taxes, per annum, £1400; houses, 2900." — 
On Wednesday, the 12th of December, 1832, the first 
parliamentary election took place, and was held in the 
Market-square. The proceedings commenced shortly 
after nine o'clock, by Mr. Swire moving the nomination 
of Charles Hindley, Esq., which was seconded by Mr. 
Raynor. Mr. Wright proposed George Williams, Esq., 
who was supported by Mr. John Harrop, sen. ; and Mr. 
Jowett nominated Thomas W. Helps, Esq., who was 
seconded by Mr. James Heginbottom. Messrs. Hindley 
and Helps, and Mr. John Smith on behalf of Mr. Wil- 
liams, delivered eff'ective speeches, explanatory of their 
respective political views. On a show of hands, a vast 
majority appeared for Colonel Williams. The other 
candidates, consequently, demanded a poll, which com- 
menced on Thursday morning, and terminated near noon 
on Friday, December 13th and 14th. On Thursday, an 
electioneering mob committed serious disorder, by injuries 
to persons, and also to property. The numbers at the 
close of the poll were, — Williams, 176; Hindley, 156; 
and Helps, 44 ; so that 376 voters exercised their 
sufirage. George Williams, Esq., was duly elected, 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 77 

and sat in the first Reformed House of Commons as 
Member for Asliton. 

The second Election for Asliton-under-Lyne occurred 
January 7th, 8th, and 9th, 1835, when the numbers at 
the close of the poll being, — Hindley, 212; Helps, 105; 
Williams, 63 ; or 380 polled votes, — Charles Hindley, 
Esq., of Dukinfield, one of the candidates at the first 
election, was returned as the representative of the borough. 

The third Election took place July 26 and 27, 1837, 
when a rather severe contest ensued betwixt Charles 
Hindley, Esq., and James Wood, Esq., of Manchester ; 
the latter a Conservative. The results of the poll were, — 
Hindley, 237; Wood, 201; Stephens, 19; total voters, 
457. Charles Hindley, Esq., was duly elected as 
member for the borough. 

The fourth Parliamentary Election for Ashton 
occurred on the 30th of June and 1st of July, 1841; 
and was characterized by extremely riotous proceedings, 
which were almost equally injurious to persons as well as 
to property, owing to the reckless conduct of a body of 
railway workmen, apparently introduced by those pro- 
fessed supporters of order — the Conservatives, There 
were two candidates, Charles Hindley, Esq., the old 
meml>er, and Jonah Harrop, Esq., of Bardsley-House, 
who stood on the Tory interest. The numbers at the 
close of the poll were, — Hindley, 303; Harrop, 254; 
so that the former was returned by a large majority. — 
In periods of excitement, party feeling runs sufficiently 

H 2 



78 HISTORY OF 

high in this place ; but the prevalent tone of opinion 
of the elective body is in favour of a system of legislation 
that will be amply protective of commercial interests. 

The gentlemen who, as Mayors of Ashton-under- 
Lyne, have acted as returning officers at elections since 
1831, merit notice. The subjoined is a list of them from 
that period :— 1832, John Wood, Esq. ; 1833, Nathaniel 
Howard, Esq. ; 1834, James Jowett, Esq. ; 1835, Thos. 
Smith, Esq. ; 1836, Samuel Earnshaw, Esq. ; 1837, 
the same ; 1838, Joseph Oldham, Esq.; 1839, Samuel 
Heginbottom, Esq. ; 1840, Samuel Swire, Esq. 

Ashton received a grant of a Market as early as 1284, 
12th Edward I. (Keurden.) — This grant was renewed 
by letters patent, bearing date February 13th, 1413, 14th 
Henry YI., procured by Sir John de Assheton. The 
privilege was again confirmed November 24th, 1608, by 
James I., on the application of George Booth, Esq. The 
orighial market was held on Mondays, pursuant to the 
charter; but Aikin remarks, in 1795, — "there was 
formerly a market held here every Wednesday, at a place 
where an ancient cross is still standing; it has been 
discontinued above thirty years ago, (1762) though such 
a convenience is now particularly wanted, from the rapidly 
increased population." Although the town was rapidly 
increasing in the first quarter of the present century, the 
Market seems not to have been fully re-established till a 
few years ago; for in 1825, Mr. Baines observes: — that 
" it is not difficult to foresee that this market will be again 
brought into requisition at no distant day." The essential 



ASHTOX-rXDER-LYXE. 79 

wants of so populous a place rendered the holding of a 
market indispensable ; and accordingly, in 1827-8, a sort 
of market was commenced in the streets, on Saturday 
evenings. The formation of a new market was projected, 
and the powers of the Police Act, enabling the Com- 
missioners of Police to provide such a place of public 
accommodation, operations for the construction of a 
square arid erection of covered stalls, were commenced 
in 1828, the Earl of Stamford having given a site ex- 
tending over 14,000 yards, and likewise surrendered his 
interest in the rents of several houses adjoining the 
proposed Market. In March, 1829, the building of the 
butchers" stalls was commenced, in the centre of the new 
area, which extends from Old-street to Stile-bara. 

This spacious square of weekly traffic was opened, 
with much ceremony, on Saturday, July 2nd. 1830. The 
butchers' stalls form a large brick edifice, surrounding a 
flagged opening. The number of shops is 26, at rents 
varying from £10 to £13 per annum each. Four-and-a- 
half per cent, of the gross produce of the tolls is claimed 
by the lord of the manor ; the remainder is received by 
the Commissioners of Police. The principal market-day 
is Saturday : Markets are also held on Mondays and 
A\'ednesdays. The ancient Market Cross was taken 
down in 1829. 

The grant of 1284 conferred two Fairs on the place, 

and the letters patent of 1413 confirm the grant, and 

further direct that they shall be held yearly, one on the 

Eve. the Feast, and the Morrow, of St. Swithin, f July 

11 3 



80 HISTORY 01^ 

14, 15, 16) and the other on the Eve, the Feast, and the 
M31T0W, of St. Martyne, (November 9, 10, 11.) The 
present Fairs are held March 23rd, April 29th, July 25th, 
Nov. 21st, and a Cattle Fair on the second Thursday in 
every month. — The tolls of the markets and fairs pro- 
duce a net income of about £500 annually. 

The principal employment of the inhabitants is in 
cotton-spinning, weaving, and other branches of the 
Cotton manufacture. Little more than a century ago, 
the cotton trade was scarcely noticed as a business of 
interest ; and its development, whilst almost unaided by 
machinery y was extremely slow. The one-spindled ap- 
paratus and the rude hand-loom were, for very many 
years, the chief instruments of operation in this now 
extraordinary system of commerce. The genius of 
Hargreaves, however, sought means to extend the trade, 
by partly substituting methods of art for the strength of 
human labour ; and he was successful. Instead of a 
small creaky ill-contrived apparatus for spinning, a large 
vv^ell-organised and admirable machine was formed, and 
brought into general use. Arkwright planned many 
singularly useful improvements, and nearly matured the 
factory system. Watt rendered the steam-engine nobly 
adapted to carry out, fully, the details of that system. 
Ci'ompton contributed materially to the effectiveness of 
the machinery. Cartwright almost accomplished the 
utmost purposes of art in this manufacture, by the pro- 
duction of the power-loom. But Roberts, on the other 
hand, has added another triumph to science, as well as 
another thrust at human labour, by substituting, in spin- 
ning, machine motion for man motion. 



ASIITOX-UNDER-LYNE. 81 

In 1 750, the villagers of Ashtoii were busily engaged 
in humble methods of spinning and weaving, both of 
wliich were carried on in the cottages. In 1769, the 
weaving of light cottons was considerable. A gradual 
extension in the sizes of spinning, carding, and other 
machines, rendered large rooms necessary for these seve- 
ral operations ; and hence, whilst small apartments were 
allotted to looms, spacious chambers or ample attic stories 
were provided for spinning, kc. : thus the concentration 
of machines and of hands was becoming usual, and 
factories or mills of a primitive sort were being formed. 
Considerable quantities of twist, and also warps, were 
largely manufactured, and chiefly used in the weaving of 
velverets, cotton thicksets, and other goods. The spin- 
ning machine of Arkwright became prevalent here about 
1785 ; but for several years the spinning concerns were 
on a small scale, and weaving was effected in cottages. 
The introduction of the improved steam-engine, in 1790, 
gave a vast impetus to the trade ; numbers of spinning, 
carding, and other machines, were shortly after set to 
work in buildings of moderate size, and all the processes, 
except weaving, became placed under the control of 
systematic mechanism. The popular dislike of unproved 
machinery manifested itself in this district comparatively 
early; for in 1776, the doors of the mill of Mr. Hall, of 
Stalybridge, were obliged to be locked night and day, to 
prevent the populace from breaking in. — The mineral 
treasures of the country, combined with the good supply 
of water, tended materially to promote the establishment 
of manufactories. 



82 HISTORY OF 

In 1794, the town of Ashton contained about ten 
spinning rooms, or small factories; in 1814, nine cotton- 
mills, of moderate size, not including small twining and 
other rooms; in 1818, fourteen; in 1825, twenty-two; in 
1831, twenty-seven; in 1834, thirty; in 1839, about 
thirty-three. — In 1825, the entire number of steam- 
engines in the town and vicinity, engaged in cotton 
manufactories, machine works, and mines, was 34, of the 
power of 840 horses ; in 1831, their number was 45, of 
the power of 900 horses. — In 1794, the total of cotton- 
mill workers in the town was upwards of 900 ; and the 
amount of capital invested in the trade is said to have 
been not more than £6000. The present number of 
cotton-mill hands in the town is about 7000 ; and the 
amount of capital invested, is estimated at £600,000. 

There were about 300 power looms herein 1818. — 
Of the 1740 families in the town in 1821, 1680 were 
engaged in trade ; and of the 2823 families in the same 
space in 1831, 2784 were employed in trade. In 1794, 
the Parish of Ashton, including the town of Ashton and 
part of the town of Stalybridge, contained twenty small 
spinning concerns ; in 1814, sixteen factories, of moderate 
size, exclusive of small rooms; in 1818, thirty; 1825, 
forty; 1831, fifty-one ; 1839, about fifty- eight. In 1825, 
the steam-engines in the parish were fifty-eight, of which 
forty-six were engrossed by cotton-mills ; in 1831, their 
number was 81, (of the power of 1474 horses) of which 
fifty- three were engaged in the cotton trade, seventeen in 
collieries, four in machine works, three in calico printing, 



ASHTOX-UXDER-LYXE. 83 

and one each in silk and woollen-mills, in tile and tire- 
brick making, and raising water. At the latter period 
there were twenty-two water-wheels, namely: — 11 in 
cotton manufactories, three in woollen, three in calico 
printing, two in roller and spindle making, and one each 
in dying, fulling, and corn grinding. 

The number of families in the parish engaged in trade 
in 1801, was about 1700; of the 3393 families in 1811, 
2757 were employed in manufactories ; of the 4787 
families in 1821, 4545 were in trade ; and of the 6408 
in 1831, 6233 were in trade. 

The number of persons employed in the cotton trade 
of Ashton town, and the out-parts of the parish, exclusive 
of Stalybridge and Lees, was, in 1834, 8396. The steam 
power was equal to that of 1200 horses, and the water 
power to 33 horses. According to the returns of the 
Inspector of Factories, dated May 1st, 1835, the cotton- 
mills in the entire parish were 51 ; steam engines, 53 ; 
horsepower, 1617; water wheels, 11; power. 111 ; total 
power, 1728; actual power employed, 1604: children 
from 9 to 1 1 years employed, 86 ; young persons from 
1 1 to 18 employed, 3509 ; total hands employed in cotton 
trade, 10,168. Woollen-mills, 3; steam engines, 3; 
horsepower, 12; water wheels, 2; horse power, 15; 
total power, 27 : children between 9 and 1 1 in woollen- 
mills, 1 ; young persons between 11 and 18, 43; total 
hands in woollen, 117. Silk-mills, 1 ; steam engines, 1 ; 
horse power, 1 : children between 9 and 11, in silk-mills, 
45 : young persons between 11 and 18, 128 ; total hands 



84 HISTORY OF 

ill silk, 250. Total mills in the parish, 55 ; steam engines 
7 of 422 horse power, 2 of 80, 8 of 282, 25 of 563, 19 
of 260, and 6 of 28 : water wheels, 7 of 97 horse power, 
and 5 of 29 : total steam engines in manufactories, 67 ; 
horsepower, 1635: total water wheels in ditto, 13; horse 
power, 126 ; total engines and wheels, 80 ; horse power? 
1761; actual power employed, 1697: children between 
9 and 1 1 employed, 132 ; young persons between 1 1 and 
18, 3680 ; total hands employed 10,535. 

The increase in the cotton trade in this district in 1836 
was such, that it was said a demand would be created for 
at least 7000 new hands. How far these expectations 
were realized will appear, in some degree, from the 
returns of the Factory Inspectors, dated Feb. 9th, 1839, 
which afford the subjoined information as to the extent 
of the trade in Ashton Parish at that period : — Cotton 
manufactories or concerns, 82 (this is not the number of 
mills, but of firms) ; woollen, 3 ; silk, 1 ; total, 86 : 
unoccupied concerns, 4 ; actual power employed, equal 
to 2875 horses ; children between 9 and 13, 339 ; young 
persons between 13 and 18, 4,047; total hands, 12,371, 
of whom, at least 12,000 are engaged in the cotton trade; 
indicating but an increase of 1832 hands from 1835 to 
1839. So much for the value of the report alluded to 
above. 

The spinners of the district are chiefly employed in 
spinning the finer kinds of yarn, — the power - loom 
weavers in weaving stout printing calicoes, — and the 
hand-loom weavers in producing ginghams, &c. 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. 85 

*• When tlie cotton trade was in its domestic state 
there was little fluctuation in prices, little competition 
between individuals, and the mind became contracted 
from this general stagnation and its being so seldom roused 
to exertion. Men being mostly employed alone, or having 
few but their own families to converse with, had not their 
understandings rubbed bright by contact and interchange 
of ideas; they witnessed a monotonous scene of life 
which communicated a corresponding dulness and me- 
chanical action to their minds. The greatest varieties of 
scene which they witnessed were the market day of the 
country town, and the attendance at church or the Sab- 
bath : and the suinmum honum of their lives was to sit 
vacant and inactive in each other's houses, to sun tliem- 
selves in the Market-place, or to talk over news at that 
great mart of village gossip — the blacksmith's shop.'' 
(Guest.) 

The present condition of the cotton manufacturing 
population presents a widely different state. Now, the 
immense extent of the traffic, and the consequent great 
number of enterprising traders, occasions frequent and 
devastating fluctuations in prices : whilst, on the other 
hand, the necessities of competition tend to increase 
commerce and improve machinery. Though, by such 
causes, mechanism is augmenting, and manual labour 
diminishing; yet probably as large, if not a greater amount 
oS. mere attendants on the automatic apparatus are em- 
ployed, as the extent of hands displaced by the new 
methods of production. The concentration of large 
bodies of workers in the mills has a decided tendency to 



«0 HISTORY or 

render them well disposed and social with each other ; 
and they thus obtain no slight facilities for promoting, in 
a great degree, habits of virtue or of vice. 

" In regarding the manufacturing population of this 
district, we are forcibly struck with its condensation 
within limit ed spots ; its consequent means of free inter- 
communication ; the intelligence, energy, and activity of 
many of its members, with the coarse low habits of the 
general mass ; from the want of sound moral and religious 
education, the slaves of vice, prejudice, and passion ; the 
bond of union between masters and servants feebly knit, 
and resembling more the animosity of adverse interests 
than the salutary influence of the one class, with satisfied 
subordination on the part of the other. A more formid- 
able array of these habits and propensities may render 
such a population of an apprehensive character, as their 
labour on the other hand, may, under due regulation, 
conduce to the advantage of society." (Rickards.) 

Cotton -mill employment is of a tedious nature, and 
much more wearisome than laborious ; and, in this, 
appears the cause of a deal of the intemperance of mill 
operatives. Attention is more requisite than action in 
such a calling, and therefore the work becomes tedious. 
The rate of wages is higher than in the generality of 
employments where greater physical exertion is called 
for ; but the hours of work in the latter are considerably 
less than in factory work. '' Men may be found who 
have not yielded to the debilitating and improvident habits 
of the mass, who are living in comfort and decency upon 



ashtox-uxher-i.yxe. f^y 

the average amount of wages earned by the whole popu- 
lation— a sufficient proof, if proof were wanting, that the 
mischief lies full as uu.ch with the labourers themselves, 
as in the system of labour,- which, though comparatively 
light, is too long in daily duration. 

The domestic comforts of the factory classes are 
seriously affected by the improvident habi'fs of many of 
the operatives; and yet there are numbers of workin- 
families who are apparently in agreeable circumstances'^ 
owing to the practice of sobriety, and the desire for 
mental cultivation. 

"Though the general appearance of the operative is 
squalid, and the majority of the middle-aged badly dressed 
the young women expend considerable sums upon their 
persons: the extreme cheapness of printed calicoes and 
nuishns giving a taste for showy clothing, the factory girl 
«-.th her pale face and languid expression, offers, when 
decked out in her Sunday and holiday apparel, a strange 
anomaly with the dirty, unfurnished, and misernble house 
from which she, in too many cases, issues." (Ga..kell.) 

Although the management of cotton-mills i. now 
regulated by legislative enactment, still the internal 
economy of the factories is variable.-In some establish- 
ments the employers manifest the utmost anxiety for the 
comfort of their hands, whilst the cmplovcd arc conslaullv 
endeavouring to render their labours satisfactory, and U, 
'btain as many rational advantages as are consistent wi,h 
their position. lu oth.r mills ,|„. masters are of gro.s 



I 



88 HISTORY OF 

and scltish habits; and tlierefore, the workers, in such 
instances, are often of similar dispositions, debased and 
careless. The factories of the vitiated class are ill-con- 
ducted. It is to such mills the following lines apply : — 

" There, shut for ever from the gladdening sky, 
Vice premature, and care's corroding seal, 
vStamp on each sallow cheek their hateful die, 
lAne the smooth open brow, and sink the saddened eye." 

Whatever censures are bestowed on the factory system 
by the admirers of the institutions of the olden time, ''its 
morbid distemj)erature is certainly not so great as that 
of the agricultural system of England, and it is more 
accessible to control and amelioration." "The party 
who lately declaimed so loudly about the inmates of fac- 
tories being universally victims of oppression, misery, 
and vice, if actualed by a philosophical spirit, might have 
ascertained, very soon, whether Goldsmith's Auburn, or 
Crabbe's Village, reflected the truest picture of their 
country s pride ; and by inspecting thereafter, an in- 
creasing factory village, they might have discovered 
whether the town was staining the country or the country 
the town." (Ure.) 

" In point of intelligence, there can be no doubt that 
a manufacturing population far exceeds an agriculturaL 
one. The opportunities of associating with each other, 
the facilities of obtaining books and newspapers, and the 
discussions in their unions, combinations, and clubs, 
stimulate and sharpen the intellects of the working classes 
in towns ; whilst the solitary labourer in husbandry too 
often grows up in stupid ignorance and inertness. Yet 



li 



ASTITOX-UXPER-LYXK. 89 

there are too mnny j-iroofs of want of information amoni;^ 
the working classes in towns, and of tlieir liability to 
delusion ; and every one acquainted with these classes 
must acknowledge the necessity of a better system of 
education.** (Baines.) 

The estimated value of the buildings and machinery 
in the cotton trade in the Parish of Ashton is £1.100,000, 
and the amount of capital required to work them £400,000. 
The quantity of yarn spun daily in the cotton-mills of the 
parish by steam, is as much as would . have been spun 
with the distaff and spindle by 3,000.000 persons. 

The hand-loom weavers in this district are not incon- 
siderable. According to the report of the Commissioners 
for Inquiiy into the State of the Hand-loom Weavers, 
dated March, 1839, the subjoined were the results of an 
investigation of the condition of the w^eavers of Ashton : — 
Heads of families visited, 483 ; number of persons em- 
ployed, 813: number of looms idle, 213; number of 
persons dependant on the earnings of those employed, 
1955; clear total average weekly income, £119. 3s. 3d.: 
average per family per week, 4s. 1 1 id. They are chiefly 
employed in weaving ginghams, shawls, kc. 

There are no navigable rivers in this part of the 
rountr}* ; but it is extensively intersected by Canals. 
which have proved highly useful in promoting the internal 
traffic of commerce. 

The Canal from Manchester to Ashton-under-Lync 
and Oldham, was constructed pursuant to an act of par- 

I 2 



90 HISTORY OF 

lianicnt, passed 1792, 32nd George III., by a company 
of shareholders : amoni^st whom were ihe Earl of Stam- 
ford and Warrington, Rev. Thomas Evans, D.D., Benj. 
A. Ileywood, John Lees, Esqrs., &cc. By an act passed 
1793, the company were empowered to form a branch to 
Stockport, and another to Hollinwood, both of which 
were completed. These several navigations extend from 
Manchester to Ash ton, Fairfield to Fairbottom, Water- 
houses to Hollinwood, and Clayton to Heaton-Norris, 
an aggregate length of 18 miles ; and their cost was about 
£150,000. The funds were raised according to the acts 
passed 1792, 1793, 1798, 1800, and 1805, in share? of 
£100 each, and by mortgages, &c. The canals were 
opened in 1797. Coal and lime are the chief objects of 
carriage. The principal -works of this navigation in 
Ashton Parish are the tunnel, near Waterhouses, and 
the reservoir at Crime, an area of five acres. 

The idea of forming a connecting link betwixt the 
west and the east seas suggested the formation of the 
Huddersfield Canal, which w^as cut according to acts 
passed 1794, 1800, 1806. This canal commences in Sir 
John Ramsden's Canal, at Huddersfield, and passes 
under Pule Moss, by a tunnel of 3^ miles in length, 
which cost £56,000 ; it then winds through Saddleworth, 
and entering Ashton parish at Stalybridge, terminates in 
the Ashton Canal, near the town of Ashton, where it 
passes through another tunnel. Its length is 19 J miles, 
and the summit level is 656 feet above the surface of the 
sea, higher than any other canal in England. Nature 
having thrown great impediments in the making of this 
canal, its cost was about £300,000. 



ASHTOX-t'XDER-LYXE. 91 

On the south side of the town of Ashton, the Peak 
Forest Canal forms a junction with the Ashton Canal. 
and crosses the Tame hy a liigh acqueduct. This navi- 
gation was formed hy tlie authority of acts passed 1794, 
1800, and 1805, and extends from Ashton to Chapel 
Milton, in Derhyshire, ahout 15 miles. Its cost was 
about £140.000. 

By the Ashton Canal merchandize is conveyed to 
Manchester, and thence by water to Liverpool ; by the 
Huddersfield Canal a w^^ter conveyance is opened to the 
German Ocean : and by the Peak Forest Canal a water 
communication is made into the heart of Derbyshire, for 
the conveyance of fuel and the reception of lime. The 
convenience of transit opens, for the coal district, a never- 
failing market. 

The commercial resources of the principal parts of 
the kingdom have been benefitted by the formation of 
Raibvays, as they are highly useful for the purposes of 
general conveyance. — A line of railway, to pass from 
Manchester to Sheffield, through Peak Forest, was 
planned in 1830, by Mr. G. Stephenson : and an act of 
parliament, wliich cost £11,300, was procured, but the 
project failed in 1832. A company, entitled ^' The 
Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Sheffield, Railway 
Company,'' was established January, 183G, with a capital 
(.f £700,000, in 7000 shares of £100 each. From the 
estimates of the committee, several facts indicative of the 
extent of the traffic carried on betwixt Ashton, Stalybridge^ 
and Manchester, were brought out. In a summary of the 

I 3 



92 HISTORY OF 

l)assenger traffic, it was stated, that the number of persons 
annually conveyed to and from Ashton-under-Lyne and 
Manchester, was 54,812; and to and from Stalybridge, 
Ashton, and Manchester, 87,630 : the annual transit of 
coals from Ashton, was set down at 800 tons. The 
receipts of the present traffic of the whole line, were 
estimated at £121,478 per annum, and the*" prospective 
traffic at £120,337. The company obtained"* an act of 
parliament May 5th, 1837, for cutting the railway from 
Manchester, by Ashton to Sheffield ; and also to form a 
branch line to Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge. The 
length of the line will be upwards of 39 miles, including 
a tunnel of three miles in length, betwixt Woodhead and 
Dunford-bridge. The works were commenced October 
1st, 1838; and the amount expended to June 30th, 1841, 
was £251,526; the balance due to the bankers at that 
period, was £5104. The line is expected to be open to 
the vicinity of Ashton and Hyde in a short time. The 
branch line to Ashton and Stalybridge has not been 
commenced ; it will join the main line at North-street, in 
Audenshaw, 4 miles 76 chains from Manchester, 1^ miles 
from Ashton, and 2 miles 45 chains from Stalybridge. 
The Ashton station is to be near Mill-lane, 6^ from 
Manchester ; and the Stalybridge Station near the Hud- 
dersfield Canal, in the Dukinfield portion of Stalybridge, 
7| miles from Manchester. — Mill-lane, Ashton, is 330 
feet above the level of the sea. An unsuccessful attempt 
was made in 1837, to form a company for constructing a 
railway from Manchester to Ashton and Stalybridge only; 
the capital was to have been £200,000. 



ASHTOX-U>'DER-LTNE. 93 

Thus enriched by Canals and a Railway, surrounded 
by Coal-mines, and benefitted by an ample supply ol' 
water from the Ta:ne, Ashton is admirably situated, both 
for the purposes of trade and manufacture. Mills abound 
on the banks of the river, and the dyers lind in its waters 
a source of continual purification. The rapid increase of 
the town of Ashton, arising from the extension of the 
Cotton trade has been noticed. The town of Stalybridge 
has augmented in an equal if not greater ratio to Ashton. 
The principal manufacturing villages Lees, Mossley, 
Hooley Hill, Hurst, and Audenshaw, have become so 
large that if situated in agricultural districts, they would 
be deemed important towns. The environs of Ashton 
and Stalybridge are decorated by the elegant mansions of 
the wealthy manufacturers, which are mostly belted by 
tastefully disposed pleasure-grounds. The dwellings of 
the humbler classes are generally of neat appearance as 
regards the exterior, and many are agreeable abodes 
internally, there are numerous cheerful habitations of 
the middle classes, equally far from display on the one 
ban 1. or meanness on the other. 

The Population of the town has multiplied with 
?reat rapidity during the last and present century. I 
infer from the information conveyed by the ancient rent 
roll of the Assheton's, that the population of the town in 
1422 was about 150; and in 1618 about 400. Shortly 
after the introduction of the cotton trade, namely in 1775 
the first satisfactory- census was taken, its results as far 
as relate to the town, were as follows : — Inhabitants, 2859; 
Houses. 553 : Families, 599 ; Males, 1406; Females. 



94 HISTORY 0¥ 

1453; Married, 982; Widowers, 50; Widows, 81: 
Persons under five years of age, 509 ; 5 to 10, 396 ; 10 
to 20, 54 1 ; 20 to 50, 1044 ; 50 to 70, 307 ; 70 to 90, 62. 

Towards the close of the last century a great number 
of families from the adjacent counties, and from Ireland, 
settled here, in order to participate in the advantages of 
trade, so that the population multiplied considerably ; 
during the American War, two suburbs of the town 
were erected named Charlestown and Boston. 

The number of houses paying window-tax in Ashton 
Town in 1793, was 279; Boston, 28; Charlestown, 23; 
total, 330 : this return is obviously under the real num- 
ber, as compared with that of 1775. In 1796, the town, 
including Charlestown, Boston, Hurst, Botany-Bay, and 
the immediate vicinities, contained 1600 houses ; and, 
estimating five inmates to each house, the population 
would then be 8000 ; but this, as a statement of the 
population of the town alone, is manifestly too high : 
5000 would be nearer the truth. In 1801, when the first 
decennial census was taken, the population was about 
6500; and in 1811, about 1700. The returns were not 
compiled separately for the four divisions of the parisli 
until 1821, when a distinct census for Ashton-under- 
Lyne is first supplied. The total number of persons at 
the last period named was 9222 : males, 4514 ; females, 
4708; families, 1750; inhabited houses, 1643; unin- 
habited, 36 ; building, 22 ; families engaged in agricul- 
ture, 19; families engaged in trade, 1690; families not 
connected with trade or agriculture, 41. In 1831 j the 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. D5 

number of persons was 14,()70 ; indicating an increase 
of 5448 from 1821 to 1831 : males, 7176; females, 7494; 
families, 2823 ; inhabited houses, 2648 ; uninhabited, 
147 ; building, 35; families engaged in agriculture, 16; 
families engaged in trade, 2784 ; and families not con- 
nected with trade or agriculture, 23 ; and males twenty 
years of age and upwards 3442. 

In 1834-5, a statistical survey was taken of 3835 
houses in the town of Ashton ; of which, 2149 were 
separate dwellings ; 627 were sitting-rooms ; 59 cellars ; 
69 public-houses ; and 89 beer-houses : the population 
inhabiting dwellings, was 14,604; inhabiting rooms, 
627; cellars, 59. Of this population, 4723 were able to 
read and write ; 4334 only able to read. The heads of 
families who professed to belong to the Church of Eng- 
land, were 1517; and lodgers who professed the same, 
23 : heads of families professing to be Dissenters, 624 ; 
lodgers professing the same, 139 : heads of families 
professing to be Catholics, 399; lodgers who professed 
the same, 290 : heads of families not making any religious 
profession, 1293; lodgers of similar opinions, 584."^ In 
1841 the total of persons was 22,686, forming an increase 
of 8,016 from 1831 to 1841, attributable to the exten- 
sion of the cotton trade, males 10,724, females, 11,962, 
inhabited houses, 4066 ; uninhabited, 495 ; building, 37; 
total of houses, 4598. The official return of the census 
of 1841 is not yet published. The proportion of the 
working class to the whole population of the town is 8 1 
per cent. 

♦ Paper read to the British Association, 1H3T. 



96 



IIISTOIIY OF 



The roll of the tenants of the manor m 1422, rc- 

i^arding the enumeration of occupiers as strictly correct, 

induces me to think that the population of the parish, at 

that time, was about 1380 ; and I infer from the data 

furnished by the rate books, that the number of persons 

in the parish in 1618, was about 3300. A survey of the 

population was taken in 1775, and presents several rather 

peculiar features ; the annexed are the results : — 

Parish, exclusive Entire 

of Town. Parish. 

Inhabitants 5097 .... 7956 

Houses 941 1494 

Families 971 .... 1570 

Males 2584 .... 3990 

Females 2513 3966 

Married 1679 .... 2661 

Widowers 67 .... 117 

Widows 95 .... 176 

Under 5 years of age . . 896 .... 1405 

From 5 to 10 „ .. 764 1160 

„ 10 „ 20 „ .. 1011 .... 1552 

„ 20 „ 50 „ ,.1882 .... 2926 

„ 50-,, 70 „ .. 471 .... 778 

„ 70 „ 90 „ .. 73 .... 1-35 

The rate of increase of the population of the rural por- 
tions of the parish is, of course, smaller than that of the 
town. The number of houses paying the window-tax in 
the part of the parish exclusive of the tov/n, in 1793, 
was 824; and in the entire parish, 1154 : but this was 
clearly far from the real number of houses at that time. 
The parliamentary returns of the population for the 



ASIITOX-UNDEll-LYNE. ^/ 

% 

decennial periods, have been ais follo\Ys, exceptini^ tlie 

numbers set down in 1801 and 1811, for tlie population 

of the town, wliicli are computations : — 

Furish, exclusive Entire 

of Town. Parish. Town. 

In 1801, Inhabitants .. 9,132.. 15,632.. 6,500 

„ 1811, „ .. 11,252.. 19,052.. 7,800 

„ 1821, „ .. 16,745.. 25,967.. 9,222 

.. 1831, „ .. 18,927.. 33,597.. 14,670 

,. 1841, „ . . 23,657. . 46,343. .22,686 

The increase hi the population of the parish from 1775 to 
1801, was 7676; 1801 to 181 1, 3420 ; 1811 to 1821. 
6915; 1821 to 1831, 7630; 1831 to 1841, 12,746. 
The total number of houses in 1801, was 3018. 

According to the returns of 1811, the parish contained 
inhabited houses, 3042 ; families, 3393 ; houses building. 
; houses uninhabited, 85; males, 9146; females, 9906: 
families engaged in agriculture, 213; families hi trade, 
2757; families not connected with trade or agriculture, 
423. In 1821 the number of families engaged in agri- 
culture, was 152 ; in trade, 4545; otherwise employed, 
90; total families, 4787. In 1831 the number of agri- 
cultural families, was 115: families in trade, 6233, and 
otherwise emplo}( d 60 ; total families, 6108. In 183 I 
there were of males 20 years of age, 7821 ; occupiers of 
land employing labourers, 24 ; occupiers not employing 
labourers, 98 ; labourers in agriculture, 57 ; labourers in 
manufactures, 204 ; persons in retail trade, 1452 ; capi- 
talists, bankers, and professional men, 171 : labourers in 
labour not agricultural, 5614; males not labourers or 
servants 20 years of age, 187; male ^^(•rvants 20 vears of 



9% 



IIISTOllY OF 



aij:c, 14; male servants under 20, 13; female servants 251. 
—Population Returns, 1831, vol. 1, p. 294. 



The returns for 1821, 1831, and 1841, present the 
following results ; similar returns for the Town are pre- 
viously given: — 



Parish exclusiv 
of Town. 



1821, Inhabited Houses 2812 

1831, „ 3312 

1841, „ .... 4158 

1821, Uninhabited Houses . . 65 

1831, „ .. 176 

1841, „ .. 479 

1821, Plouses in Building . . 3 
1831, „ ..30 

1841, „ .. 35 

1821, Plouses 2880 

1831, „ 3518 

1841, „ 4682 

1821, Males 8406 

1831, „ 9305 

1841, „ 11.471 

1821, Females 8339 

1831, „ 9622 

1841, ., 12,186 

The population of the several divisions may be thus 
summed up :- 



Entire 
Parish. 

4465 

5960 

8234 

101 

323 

974 

35 

65 

72 

4601 

6348 

9280 

12,920 

16,481 

22,197 

13,047 

17,116 

24,146 



Ashton Town 
Hartshead . . 
Knott-lanes. . 
Audens-haw . . 



1821. 
9222 
9137 
3827 
3781 



1831. 

14,670 

10,073 

4,862 

3,992 



1841. 

22,686 

12,760 

5,523 

5,374 



ASTITOX-UNDER-LYNE. 



99 



The population of the town of Stalybridge, in 1831, was 
14,216; in 1841, about 20,000: but the principal portion 
of it is in Cheshire. The population of the Hartshead or 
Ashton-under-Lyne portion, in 1841, was 5747. 

The population of the principal villages in the parish, is 

as follows : — 

1831. 1841. 

Hooley Hill 1500 2000 

Mossley 1300 1500 

Lees 1400 1700 

Hurst Brook 1600 

The chief village is Lees-cum-Hey. 

The progress of poi)ulation is further illustrated by the 
annexed tables of baptisms, marriages, and burials, at 
the Parish Church of Ashton, during the last and present 
centuries."^ In the first year of the registers, 1594, 
there were 90 baptisms, and 21 marriages; the register 
of burials does not commence till 1596, in which year 
there were 10. 

Marriages. 





Baptisms. 


Burials 


1765.. 


. . 235 . . 


. . 159 


1775.. 


. . 332 . . 


.. 241 


1785.. 


. . 427 . . 


. . 201 


1793.. 


. . 545 . . 


.. 348 


1830. . 


. . 800 . . 


.. 703 


1840.. 


. . 1343 .. 


. . 700 



184 
200 



The National system of Ii( i^istration of Births, 
Deaths, and Marriages, commenced in 1837, and will 

♦ Dr. Percivars Obsersations on Pop\ilalion, p. 57. 
K 



100 III S TO 11 Y OF 

ultimately prove of great value for legal as well ast 
statistical purposes. — The towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, 
Oldham, Stalybridge, Middleton, and a number of ad- 
jacent populous tow^nships in Lancashire and Cheshire, 
form one Superintendent Registrar's District, — com- 
prising fifteen Ordinary Registrars' districts, and a 
population of 133,474, according to the census of 1831. 
The births and deaths registered in the district of Ashtou 
Town have amounted to the annexed sums : — 

Births. Deaths. 

1837-8 662 .... 515 

1838-9 814 782 

1839-40 840 .... 701 

The average number of births registered in the Parish 
of Ashton is about 1800, and of deaths about 1400. — 
The number of births registered in the Ashton-under- 
liVne and Oldham Superintendent Registrars' district^ 
in 1838, was 5723; 1839,6799: deaths, 1838, 4488; 
1839, 5501. The district contains 17 churches and 
chapels of the establishment in which marriages are 
solemnized, and 18 places of worship of the dissenters 
that are registered for the solemnization of marriages. 
The number of episcopal marriages in 1838, was 1475; 
dissenters, 84: 1839, episcopal, 927; dissenters, 85. 

The rate of mortality in the manufacturing district 
of Ashton-undcr-Lyne and Oldham united population in 
1831, 133,474, as compared with the mortality of the 
ugvicultin-al districts of Ormskirk, Fylde, Garstang, 



ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXi;. 



101 



Clitheroe, Ulverstoiie. and Chorlcy united population in 
1831, 139,597, was as follows, in 1838-9: — 



Manufacturing Agricultural 
District. District. 


Epidemic, Endemic, and Con- 






tagious Diseases 


819 


449 


Nervous Diseases 


891 .... 


371 


Diseases of the Respiratory 




Organs 


1237 .... 


686 


,, of the Organs of Circulation 


17 ... . 


24 


,, V Digestive Organs . . 


429 ... 


. 165 


,, ,, Urinary Organs .... 


18 ... 


. 17 


,, ., Organs of Generation 


72 ... 


. 31 


„ ,, Organs of Locomotion 


38 ... 


. 13 


,, ,, Integumentary System 


6 ... 


. 2 


,, of Uncertain Seat 


559 ... 


. 347 


„ of Old A^e 


229 ... 

104 ... 

69 ... 


. 310 


Violent Deaths 


. 127 


Causes not specified 


. 196 


Total 


4488 ... 


.2738 



This table suggests many matters for observation, 
relative to the causes of the difference in the rate of mor- 
tality betwixt populous and impopulous districts, but the 
discrepancy principally arises from the density of the 
people in manufacturing places, partly from the nature of 
their employments, and in some degree from the want of 
prudent and cleanly habits amongst the lowest class of the 
town residents. A number of those excellent institutions. 
Friend/?/ Societies, for the support of the member ^- 
during sickness, and the defrayal of tlie costs of funerals. 
K 2 



102 HISTORY OF 

liave existed in this parish many years, and conduce not 
only to the welfare of the contributors but tend to create 
increased feelings of sociality amongst the working class. 
The manners of the body of the inhabitants have not im- 
proved in the same ratio as the buildings and manufac- 
tories, and yet the number of intelligent and sober 
operatives is considerably greater than it was a few years 
ago ; the bulk of the population however is in a deplorable 
state of ignorance, and much addicted to habits of intem- 
perance ; and yet though negligent in many cases of 
domestic welfare they are generally neat in their personal 
appearance. 

Schools. — The district is not provided with any 
ancient endowed school, and yet a school house was 
erected in the seventeenth century on land given by the 
manorial owners adjacent to the Church-yard, for the 
education of the children of the parishioners generally, 
the means of its support have been chiefly derived from 
the parents of the scholars, the school was re-built by the 
parish in 1721, partly under the auspices of the Earl of 
Warrington : Mr. John Newton, of Woodhouses, gave 
by Will dated February 17, 1731 to the school of Ashton 
£3 yearly, for the education of six poor children, two to 
be nominated by the Rector, two by the Curate, and two 
by the Wardens, the children not to remain above two 
years each, they are taught to read and write. Mr. John 
Walker of Manchester having by his Will dated July 7, 
1755, devised the interest of £600 to be applied to the 
education of poor children in Ashton, Oldham, and Sad- 
dle worth, £8 of the annual interest was divided amongst 



A8HT0N-UNDER-LYNE. 103 

three schools in Aslitoii, £4 for ten scholars, Taunton £!2 
for five, and Hey £2 for live. The school was re-built 
in 1807, and a^ain re-crected and enlarged in 1827 ; it 
is a spacious pile, decorated by a mullet sable on a 
shield of white marble, the arms of Ashton ; about 200 
children are taught daily by subscription, and scholars 
payments. The appointment of master is vested, in the 
Earl of Stamford and the Rector. St. Peter's Sunday 
School is an excellent edifice built in 1838. 

In a Report on the state of Elementary Education in 
several towns of Lancashire in 1840, by the Hon. and 
Rev. Baptist W. Noel, it is stated that Ashton has not 
one public infant school or day school; and but one- 
nineteenth part of the population are found in the dame 
and common schools only. A writer in the Manchester 
Sunday School Magazine asserts, that in Ashton, Staly- 
bridge and Dukinfield, only one child in forty-six attends 
daily instruction, and yet one in four ought always to be 
at school. A large proportion of the poor children of 
these populous places are destitute of efiicient moral and 
religious training.** As there are numbers of children 
who are neither taught in schools nor employed in factories, 
there is a great want of public day schools. By the 
I'ecuniaiy assistance of the wealthy, and the personal 
services of virtuous operatives, great attention is paid 
to schooling poor children on Sundays, by means of 
Sunday schools, which is highly necessary where many 

» llie number of children of the "SVorking Class in the day school 
of Ashton, Stalybridu'p, and DukiuHeid -n 1^"5 was 2496. 
K 3 



104 niSTORY OP 

of the juveniles are engaged in the cotton-mills on the 
week days. '' The labours of Sunday school teachers 
are of immense value, but the instruction is so superficial 
that it cannot be properly termed education : there ought 
to be a system to teach the population to master their 
appetites, to contend with their passions, to resist temp- 
tation, and to seek through all their lives that improve- 
ment of mind and heart, which may end in the moral 
and intellectual perfection of a better state.'' 

The annexed tables exhibit the state of Sunday 
Schools at three distinct periods : 





1823. 


1831. 


184L 


Episcopal Schools in the Town . 


1 


2 


2 


„ „ „ Parish. 


4 


4 


4 


Episcopal Scholars ,, Town . 


. 600 


1330 


2400 


„ „ „ Parish. 


. 700 
1300 


1216 
2546 


1300 


Total 


3700 



Dissenters' Schools in the Town . . 5 5 6 

„ „ „ Parish.. 12 13 14 

Dissenters' Scholars „ Town . . 1200 2500 2275 

„ „ „ Parish.. 1600 3520 3556 



Total 2800 6020 5831 



Schools for all Denominations of 

Children in the Town, . 

„ „ ,, Parish. .3 2 2 

Scholars of all DenominationSjParish 400 320 500 



ASHTON-UNDEK-LYNE. lOo 

It appears, from tliis table, that in 1823 there were 
24 Sunday Schools, and loOO scholars : 1831, 26 schools, 
8886 scholars: and 1841, 29 schools, and 10,031 
scholars. 

Parochial ^4ffairs. — The assessment and distribu- 
tion of the rates for the relief of the poor and other 
purposes, as far as relate to Ashton Parish, are in the 
management of one body of overseers, of whom there is 
an honorary overseer to each of the four divisions. The 
annual value of the property in the parish assessed to the 
county rates in 1815, was £33,548; 1829, £71,837; 
1840, £143,803 : in the Magisterial division of Ashton, 
1815, £44,087; 1829, £90,645; 1840, £172,203.— 
The expenditure for parochial purposes, in the year 
ending October 28, 1823, amounted to £4,001 2s. 4d. : 
within the same period £1,071 18s. 6d. was paid to the 
mothers of illegitimate children; and £453 3s. lid. for 
salaries and casualties. — In the year ending March 25, 
1834, the sum of £5,801, 9s. 4d. was collected as poor's 
rates, o^ which £1,365 14s. lOd. was paid for illegitimate 
childien. The poor's rates of 1837 amounted to £4390. 
The proportion of county rate paid by tlie parish in 1830, 
was £1619; 1834, £1035 15s. 9d. ; 1836, £1041; 
1840, £1989 lid. 

Ashton was constituted a Poor-law Union in 1837 ; 
the union is composed of Ashton Parish and the following 
townships : Droylsden, Denton, Haughton, (Lancashire); 
Dukintield, Staley, Newton, Godley, Hatterslcy, Matley, 
Hollingwortb, Mottram, and Tintwistle, (Cheshire., 



106 HISTORY OF 



Ashton elects five guardians ; Dukinfield, two; and the ■j 
remainder one each ; total, twenty. — The workhouse for 
Ashton is an ancient building, situate on the east side of 
the Market-place, in the town. 



Charities^ — Considering the wealth of the town, 
Ashton is not remarkable for its charitable institutions. 
It appears, from the Sixteenth Report of the Commis- 
sioners for Inquiring concerning Charities, that Dame 
Elizabeth Booth devised, January 17th, 1619, to the 
overseers of the poor of Ashton, the sum of £2 10s. a 
year, to be laid out in the purchase of bread, to be dis- 
tributed weekly to the poor attending morning service. 
Amongst other bequests of this pious lady, 10s. a year 
is appointed to be paid to a preacher in the parish 
church of St. John, Chester, for delivering a sermon on 
8uch day as the mayor may appoint ; and the sum of £2 
is left to the mayor, aldermen, and common-council, for 
a ^^ good-drinhing" immediatel}^ after the sermon! — 
The sum of twenty shillings a year was bequeathed bj^ 
Priscilla Pickford to the poor of Ashton, June 15, 1740, 
which is distiibuted, in shillings, to the communicants at 
the church, on Christmas-Day. Miles Hilton, of Auden- 
shaw, left, in 1741, the interest of £130, now £145, to 
purchase ten stuff gowns, to be given, by the Rector and 
Wardens, to ten poor old women who attend church. 
Mrs. Hey wood granted the interest of £15, to be given, 
in sixpences, to tliirty old women of the parish, every 
Christmas-Day. Mr. James Walker, of Manchester, by 
his will, dated November, 1749, gave the interest of 
£250 yearly, to be laid out in the purchase of grey wool- 



i 



ASHTON-UXDER-LYNE. 107 

len cloth, to be made into twelve coats, to be i^iven, by 
the Rector and Wardens, in October, yearly, to twelve 
poor old men who are not paupers. John Sandilbrd, 
gent., of Deanshut, gave £o to the poor, February 17th. 
1575. The Charities of Audenshaw and Stalybridge are 
noticed elsewhere. For the purpose of providing cheap 
medical aid for the sick poor, institutions named Boards 
of Health have been established ; their support is derived 
from subscriptions, and, by this means, advice and medi- 
cines are supplied. — '' The Ashton and Dukinfield Female 
Benevolent Institution" was established March, 1827, for 
the purpose of assisting poor lying-in women and others 
with relief, in clothes, linen, kc. 

A Bible Society., auxiliary to the London Society, 
was established here April 2nd, 1823 ; and the public 
liberality once displayed towards this institution seemed 
to prove that the dormant flame of benevolence was ready 
to burst forth wherever it was excited by proper objects. 
The principal religious bodies are possessed of flourishing 
Missionary Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
amongst Heathens in Foreign Lands. 

There is a Savings' Bank, formed in 1829; it has 
been of much advantage to the prudent class of operatives, 
as will appear from the subjoined table : — 

1833. 1840. 

Amount deposited £39.94 £5355 

withdrawn 815 3296 

The number of depositors on the 20tli of December, 1840. 
was 530, the deposits of 327 of whom did not exceed 
£20 each. 



108 HISTOEY OP 

LdXterary Institution. — A society for the literary and 
scientific improvement of the working class, designated 
*' The Ashton and Dukinfield Mechanics' Institution/' 
M'as established in 1825, and re-organised in 1836; but 
in 1840 the number of members was smaller than it had 
been for several years, and consequently the resources of 
the institution are impaired. That such a useful society 
should be suffered to languish is degrading to the in- 
habitants of the place. — The amount of members in 1840, 
was 153, or only one in 163 of the population of Ashton 
and its immediate suburbs. The library contains 791 
volumes of well-selected works ; and classes for the study 
of arithmetic, grammar, instrumental music, and lands- 
cape and figure drawing, meet on stated evenings in the 
week. The reading and other rooms are in Warrington- 
street, Ashton ; and the charge to members for the general 
advantages of the institute is but eight shillings per 
annum. The president for 1840 was Charles Hindley, 
Esq., M. P. 



Public Buildings. — The only public building for 
municipal purposes wdiich existed for ages was the 
Court-House^ a large edifice ; the present pile was, 
apparently, built in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, and is still used for manorial meetings, &c. A 
new pile, named the Gas Buildings^ erected adjacent to 
the Gas Works, in Oldham -road, in 1827, were intended 
to be used as Police Offices, Assembly-rooms, and a 
Theatre ; but the objects of the designers have not been 
fully realised, although one portion of the neat fabric has 
been occupied as a Theatre. A large dwelling, on the east 



ASIITON'-UNDEK-LYXE. lOfi 

side of the Market-place, \vas converted, in 1831, into a 
temporary Police Office. — The erection of a public hall 
sufficiently conniiodious for all recpiisitc local purposes, 
and worthy of the modern importance of the town, beinir 
liighly desirable, the Commissioners of Police deter- 
mined, in Septeml)er, 1839. to raise a Town Hall. An 
eligible site ^vas secured, on the north side of the 
Market-place, and the funds necessary for the erection 
'about £6000) were provided by a mortgage of the 
tolls of the market. The Avorks were commenced in 
April. 1840, from designs of Mr. Young, architect, of 
Manchester; and the edilice is now (September, 1841} 
nearly completed. It is a handsome building of stone, 
of the Corinthian order. The style of architecture is 
Roman ; but, as respects the disposition of the columns 
composing the order, and the substitution of the plain 
])iers, or antir, at the angles of the building, for the range 
of pilasters usually introduced along the front and side 
walls, the simpler peculiarities of the Grecian style have 
been resorted to."^ The main portion of the entrance 
front is composed of four engaged colunms in (n?fisj 
surmounted by an appropriate attic : in the central com- 
partment of which, (desiLcr.od as a ])edestal for a sculptured 
tigure of Justice) is an inscri|)tion recording the date of 
the building, 1840. The remainder of the front consists 
of two minor compartments or wings, having only a plain 
parapet above the cornice. I'liese plainer portions, al- 
thougli forming part of the order, and designed in perfect 

* CoramuTiication of Mr. Young, architect. — (CiTil Engineer and 
Architects' Journal, January, 1841.) 



110 HISTORY OF 

keeping witli the central pavillion of the facade, serve to 
connect and blend the comparatively enriched front of the 
ediiice with the more subdued architecture of the two 
sides. The building consists, internally of two stories 
(principal and first floor) and a basement : the former of 
these, distinguished as a sort of rustic arcade, is ap- 
proached, in front, by a lofty flight of steps, flanked on 
each side by a projecting portion of the stylohate^ or 
continued pedestal, on wdiich the order itself is elevated. 
The stone necessarily used for the purpose of economy, 
is of too coarse and porous a nature to admit of that 
delicacy of execution which could have been desired ; 
but, nevertheless, owing to the uniform use of that 
material throughout, and the harmonious connexion of 
the side elevations wdth the front, the edifice presents an 
appearance of solidity and importance hardly consistent 
with the comparatively small sum expended in its erection. 
The interior contains a Police Oflice and Prison, with a 
residence for the principal police ofiicer. Offices, and 
Committee-rooms, with a spacious public room, 83 feet 
by 40 feet, for the holding of magistrates' sessions, large 
meetings, assemblies, &:c. 

The town is well lighted by gas, supplied from Gas 
Worlis^ which were erected by a large body of share- 
holders, at a cost of about £35,000. The company w^as 
incorporated by Act of Parliament, passed May 20, 1825, 
and the streets were first lighted in 1826. The works 
are situate in Oldham- road, and comprise gasometers of 
such ample dimensions as will hold 100,000 feet of gas ; 
the main pipes exceed eight miles in length. 



ASIITON-XTNDER-LYNE. 133 



^art^|)farr. 



The Division of Hartshead is the largest in the parish, 
and comprises nearly the whole of its eastern side, 
stretching over 1513 customary acres. The centre is 
ahout two miles north-east of the town. — The name 
Hartshead, is supposed to have arisen from a co^ ert or 
shed for deer of the hart species. The name, doubtless 
originated when this tract was a forest, equally composed 
of wood and heath : then forming — 

" The woodland wild — where the dun deer roam, 
And the song-bu'ds build them a happy home." 

The north-east portion of Hartshead contains several 
liicrh elevations, — the principal is Hartshead- Pike, the 
highest point in the hamlet of Hartshead, on which 
formerly stood a conical-shaped fabric of stone, called a 
pike, with a vane at its apex, which was cut into the 
form of the head of a hart. On the west side of the pike 
were inscribed the annexed lines : — 

" Look well at me before you go, 
And see you nothing at me throw." 

*' This Pike was erected, by public subscription, 1758." 
This tower was generally regarded as a sea-mark : and 
was also formerly used as a beacon in times of public 



134 HISTORY OF 

alarm. So rapid was its decay, that in 1794 it was split 
from top to bottom, half-a-yard in width ; shortly after- 
wards, the whole walls fell into ruin, and only a few 
stones are remaining. A public subscription was lately 
promoted for the re-erection. — The prospect from the 
site is extensive and diversified. It was once customary 
with the farmers of Hartshead to pay small sums in lieu 
of tythe, at a meeting that was held around a large stone, 
at Twarl-Hill, designated the tythe-stone. 

Heyrod-Hall^ anciently Heyrode, was, at an early 
period, the mansion of a family of the local name. John 
del Heyrod was the possessor in 1422. Subsequently 
the Dukinfields, of Dukinfield, and the Shelmerdines 
were the owners, — the latter for one hundred and fifty 
years. The house was rebuilt in 1638. 

Hydes is a solitary but agreeably situated habitation, 
belonging, in 1823, to the family of Hyde. 

Gamerog-Bank was a bequest of W. Hulme, Esq., 
to Brazennose College. 

Mosdelee, anciently enjoyed by the Bardsleys, has 
been long the estate of the Halls, of whom was the Rev. 
Samuel Hall, M.A., first minister of St. Peter's Church, 
Manchester. 

Lusley-End was, according to tradition, a dwelling 
of a branch of the Ashtons, of Ashton. A Robert 
Ashton, gent., of Lusley, occurs in 1618. 



ASnTON-UXDER-LYNE. 135 

Hoss-botto???^ an old farm, near Stalybridge, was held 
by Robertus de Rossbotham, in 1422, by the rent of a 
rose, when the valley adjacent was a rugged wood. 

Scont-MlU, on the banks of the Tame, a short dis- 
tance to the south of ^losslcy, is described by Dr. Aikin, 
in 1794, *' as a place well known for its very rural and 
romantic situation, and partly for its melancholy and 
unfortunate inhabitants.'' It was, at the period named, 
a private lunatic asylum. The scenery at this spot has 
been injured by the formation of a new road. 

irUsliaiv-Dale-Gro'ce^ in Smallshaw, is a pleasing 
residence, of the Higginbottoms. 

StaJy-BanJc is a good house, of the Rev. Joseph 
Saville Robarts Evans, situate near the Tame. 

Hey rod-House^ the seat of Ralph Ousey, Esq., is 
occupied by Legh Richmond, Esq. 

The division contains two Episcopal Chapels, viz., — 
Mossley Chapel, and St. George's Chapel, Stalybridge. 
(See article Stalybridge.) That at Mossley was built in 
1755, by subscription, and enlarged 1786. It is large 
but plam, and contains a tablet to the memory of Catherine 
Kenworthy, died 1776, aged 18. The curacy is of tlie 
annual value of £127, in the patronage of the Rector of 
Ashton. — The Dissenters have four Chapels, viz., — two 
of the Methodist New Connexion, Mossley, built 1823, 
and re-built 1835, at a cost of £2600 ; and Hurst-Brook 

N 



HISTORY OF 



S '• ;r "' ^'^ ^^"^^^^ ^^P*'^^^' -d one of the 

Stephen, es. (See Stalybridge.)- The inhabitants are 
Pnnc:pa,l, en^ployed in the various processes of the co 

s:trrir"-""- — -.aca::; 

^osfyis a large village, on the north-eastern side 
o Hartshead, three nailes north-east of Ashton. The 

r:rY rl : nr"^' ^^°°'^-'^^"^-' ^« - «^^^'e! 

woith, Yorkshire. About 1773, this place ^vas a small 
V age; but in 1794, there .ere about 100 housesT 
1821, they had xncreased to 300; and in .1841, to 500 
These estimates include Brook-bottom. There are seven 
cotton-mills: formerly the staple trade consist d of 0^. 

andt/MLi-r^br--^ 

Murst-BrooJc, the principal place in the hamlet of 
Hurst was, m 1422, the patrimony of Nicholas de hJ s 
nd for more than three centuries was an obscure Lti 
pot. Owmg, m part, to its vicinity to the town of Ashton 
(a quarter of a mile) it has become a considerable village 

and yet, m 1803, there were only a few detached h'!-' 
now there are upwards of 300, and two cotton-mills. ' 

/%/^.r//e^r.ns remarkable for the large cotton 
..ns^^and neat mansions of John Whittaker,'^^^ 

The following places are small villages and hamlets: 



ASHTON-UNDER-LYXE. 137 

Hiirst-AhoA', 1 mile nortli of Ashtou ; Hurst-Cross, 
adjacent to Hurst-Xook ; Ilazlehurst, 1| miles north- 
east of Ashton ; JRotto/fis, 4 miles north-east ; Heyrod^ 
3, east-north-cast ; Hartskead, 3, north-east ; Small- 
sha?i\ 1, north; Lusley^ 2 J, north-east; vmd Ii^d(/e' 
Ju^-La?ie, IJ, east- north-east. 

The population of Hartshead, in 1821, was 9137 ; 
1831,10,073; 1841,12,760. The Chapel School, at 
Mossley, was built in 1785. The Methodist New Con- 
nexion School, Higher Hurst, received, in 1840, a 
bequest of £100, devised by the late John Whittaker, 
Esq., — There are Sunday-Schools at Mossley, Hurst- 
Brook, Higher Hurst, Heyrod, and Hartshead-Green. 



N 2 



138 HISTORY OF 



THE TOWN OF STALYBKIDGE. 



Staley-Bridge, or, as lately changed to Stalybridge, 
is one of the largest towns, either in Lancashire or 
Cheshire, wholly owing its origin to the success which 
followed the establishment of the cotton manufacture. 
It is seated in a deep valley, extending along both sides 
of the River Tame, which, here, divides Lancashire 
and Cheshire : the Parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, in 
the former county, from the Parishes of Stockport and 
Mottram-en-Longdendale, in the latter county. In these 
three districts the place is jointly situated ; and there is, 
here, a unity of three parochial interests. The Lancashire, 
or second principal portion of the town, is in the Harts- 
head division of Ash ton Parish, the principal por- 
tion of the town is in Cheshire, in Dukinfield township? 
Stockport parish : the remainder of the place is also in 
Cheshire, in Stayley township, Mottram-en-Longdendale 
parish. These portions are closely connected by the 
antient bridge over the Tame, which gave name to the 
town, as well as by two stone bridges and an iron bridge. 
Such parts of these respective townships as form the 
town of Stalybridge, are comprehended in one district, 
namely, — the Police limits of Stalybridge, defined as the 
established boundaries of the town, by a late Police Act. 
About twelve thousand of the inhabitants reside in Dukin- 
field, five thousand in Hartshead, and three thousand in 
Stayley. 



STALYBRIDGE. 139 

Stalybridge is seven miles east-south-east of Man- 
chester ; 1 mile east of Ashton-iinder-Lyne ; 5 south - 
south-east of Oldham ; 8 north-north-east of Stockport ; 
2;^ north-north-east of Hyde ; and 186 north-north-east 
of London ; nearly in 53 28 iiorth latitude, and about 
2 4 west longitude 

The name Stalybridge is derived from the township 
of Staly, or Staley, being connected in this portion of the 
vale of the Tame with the adjacent division of Hartshead, 
by a bridge, of considerable antiquity. The district of 
Stayley, in the Parish of ^lottram-en-Longdendale, was 
formerly, and is yet, in some degree, a wild and romantic 
region, interspersed with bold hills, and the moorish 
gullies separating them. From these then solitary glens, 
poured the tributary streams of the Tame, through woods 
almost impenetrable, except to the half-civilized huntsman. 
Such was the rude and savage state of this tract on both 
sides of the river, when the Romans constructed a road 
from their station at Stockport to that at Castleshaw, in 
Saddleworth, yet known by the designation of " Stayley- 
vStreet." This way passed the foot of that once impending 
rock, near Stalybridge, named Castle-hill. At a subse- 
quent period, Bucton Castle reared its warlike walls on 
one of the hills of Micklehurst ; and, in a later age, 
Stayley -Hall rose with its gables, as the seat of Robert 
de Stavcley^ in 1343, and his descendants, who held the 
manor from the superior lords of Mottram. The marriage 
of Elizabeth, heiress of Ralph Stayley, Esq., to Sir Thos. 
de Assheton, in 1471, united the two bordering families, 
and ultimately contributed to the advantage of this, — the 



140 HISTORY OF 

intervening village. The heiresses of the Asshetons 
marrying the Booths of Dunham, and their successors 
becoming similarly allied to the earls of Stamford^ the 
earl of that name is the present Lord of Stayley, for 
Avhich a court baron is held. 

*' The scenery of the neighbourhood is bold and im- 
pressive ; but those enemies to the picturesque — pit coal 
and steam-engines, have diminished the natural beauties, 
and substituted in their place employment for the poor 
and opulence for the wealthy. The views from the 
summit of ' The Wild Bank^ elevated as it is (thirteen 
hundred feet above the level of the sea,) are very exten- 
sive ; and, though the axe of the woodman has prostrated 
the stately oaks, which, in the time of the Staveleighs, 
and for several ages afterwards, clothed the neighbouring 
vallies, yet there is still here much of grandeur and beauty." 

The intercourse betwixt the two counties, at this point, 
becoming daily more common and reciprocally beneficial, 
a bridge was erected, probably at an early period of the 
seventeenth century. About 1707, this structure was 
re-built by the landholders of the vicinity. 

For several centuries, a few straggling habitations 
were all that constituted the place, which neither in- 
creased nor retrogaded till the situation was judiciously 
chosen by manufacturers, for the erection of their works. 

CastJC'IIiU^ improperly called CastlCrHall, is an an- 
cient abode, situate in Dukinfield, on a steep rock, near 



I 



I! 



STALYBRIBGE. 141 

the river Tame, almost in the midst of the modern town 
of Stalvbridge. The house is said to have been re-built 
by William Dukinlield, Esq., (son of Sir Robert Dukin- 
Held, of Dukinfield, Bart.) who died August 30th, 1735. 
The Kcmvorthys, woollen clothiers, were long the owners, 
and the late John Lees, Esq., cotton-spinner, who died 
August 25th, 1824, was resident here. 

Formerly there was but one dwelling bearing the 
name of Eosshottom^ or Rassbottom, (Hartshead) : this 
was the habitance of Robert de Rasbotham, in 1422. 

Thompson-Cross (Hartshead,) received its desig- 
nation from a plain cross which stood at the junction of 
several narrow lanes. 

Gorse-Hall (Dukinfield,) w^as so named from the 
abundance of furze on the adjacent grounds. 

Dr. Aikin states, that the place was '' famous for a 
f/reat length of time for weavers, dyers, and pressors of 
woollen cloth.** These branches flourished in the com- 
mencement of the present century, so that here was the 
western verge of the woollen manufacture, which extended 
through the vales of the Tame and the Etherow. In 
1748, the principal employment of the inhabitants was 
the spinning of worsted yarn for the Nottingham hosiers ; 
but the cotton trade prevailed in a slight degree, in its 
domestic stage. At this time, a single dyer monopolized 
all the trade in his line, with the aid of two mastiff dogs, 
who were made to grind the wares, by turning a sort of 



142 HISTORY OF 

canine tread-mill^ similar in construction to those in 
which squirrels are sometimes placed, and to which a 
piece of grinding machinery was attached. At the period 
alluded to the number of houses was about fifty-four, and 
the inhabitants amounted to one hundred and forty. In 
1763, the population had increased to ?LyQ hundred per- 
sons, and cotton-spinning and weaving were becoming 
common in the cottage garrets and shops. The first 
cotton-mill was erected by a person of the name of Hall, 
in the year 1776, in which carding was performed by 
water power, and spinning by hand. The year 1776 was 
a memorable era in the annals of the town, for the old 
episcopal chapel, as well as the first mill, were erected in 
that year. The place then consisted of a group of houses, 
ranging along the lane betwixt the bridge and Rassbot- 
tom, and a number of houses straggled on Cocker-Hill. 

In 1794, Dr. Aikin describes Stalybridge as a " very 
large and extensive village, in a continued street of half- 
a-mile, well paved, the houses well built, some of stone, 
but the greatest part of brick." At the period of the 
Doctor's highly-favourable sketch, the houses were about 
two hundred and twenty, and the population one thousand 
one hundred. From 1776 to 1801, Messrs. Halls re- 
mained the only cotton-manufacturers who carried on the 
processes of the trade in a mill. — About 1796, the first 
steam-engine erected here (one of six horses' power) was 
introduced into Messrs. Hall's mill,*^' by Mr. N. Hall. 
The introduction of the improved machinery into the 

* Baines, 12mo., v. 2, p. 555. 



STALYBRIDGE. 143 

manufacture of cotton had here to encounter a violent 
opposition, and to such a pitch were the threats of the 
populace, and the apprehensions of the mill-owner raised, 
that the doors were locked by day as well as by night, 
and the mill resembled a garrison. Time served to dis- 
sipate these alarms, and to reconcile the people to the 
progress of mechanical improvements. The growth of 
the town, both in population and trade, has been extremely 
rapid. It has been swelled into importance by the 
advantages of its local situation. " Placed on the banks 
of the Tame, the parent, as it may be called, of the 
Mersey, near to an ample supply of coal, and enjoying, 
through the medium of the Huddersfield Canal, the 
advantages of inland navigation, this place seems marked 
out as one of the favourite resorts of the manufacturers." 

No branch of the cotton-trade has perhaps been so 
uniformly successful as the spinning ; and it is to this 
circumstance principally that Stalybridge owes its wealth 
and numbers. In the year 1801, Messrs. Lees, Cheet- 
ham k Co., erected an engine of 40-horse power, to work 
their cotton-mill. — An intelligent inhabitant remarks, 
that it is probable no place has increased so amazingly 
within the last half century, in the number of the build- 
ings, the population, and the cotton manufactories, and 
the consequent improvement in the pecuniary condition 
of the people. 

In 1814, there were nearly twelve factories ; in 1818, 
they had increased to about sixteen. During the first 
twenty years of tlie })resent century, the excellent position 



144 HISTORY OF 

of Stalybridge in its advantages of fuel and facilities of 
conveyance were duly appreciated : so that the town 
became larger every year ; the streets multiplied rapidly ; 
houses started into existence as if by magic ; extensive 
factories reared their massive walls ; and the site of the 
woods of Stayley became a flourishing town. — In 1823, 
the spinning mills, inclusive of loom mills, were twenty- 
six ; and in 1825, the spinning factories, exclusive of 
loom mills, amounted to twenty-two. In 1831, the 
number of cotton-mills was twenty-five; and in 1841, 
their number, in the town and vicinity, was thirty-two. 
The amount of hands engaged in these numerous 
manufactories is upwards of 9000. 

In 1825, the mills were worked by twenty-nine 
steam-engines (and by six water-wheels,) of the aggregate 
amount of 862 horse power. In 1831, there were about 
thirty-eight steam-engines (and several water wheels,) 
equal to upwards of 1000 horse power. In 1823, these 
engines gave motion to 200,000 spindles ; in 1825, to 
354,580 spindles; and in 1841, to 536,000.— The num- 
ber of power-looms in 1825, was 2470 : the present 
number is about 5000. 

The aggregate amount of the net earnings of 8,542 
hands, in Stalybridge and Dukinfield, for the month 
ending May 4th, 1833, was £19,409 7s. 5Jd., giving an 
average of 13s. 6d. per week to each hand: the present 
average weekly wages may be about 10s. per hand. — 
There are several machine works and iron-foundries. 



STALYBEIDGE. 145 

The population of Slalybiidge is similar to that of 
other large manufacturing towns, of a mixed and fluc- 
tuating character : many of the .streets have been rather 
hastily and imperfectly constructed ; numbers of the 
dwellings are small, and of slight erection ; the inmates 
are too much crowded : and the low situation of a great 
portion of the town is unfavourable to health, yet many 
habitations are neatly built and well placed. There are 
too many heads of families who wholly neglect the edu- 
cation of their children, hence incentives to vice remain 
unchecked. 

Although the factory system admits of improvement 
in its moral and mental qualities, '' the hardest labour in 
the worst room, in the worst-constructed factory, is less 
hard, less cruel, and less demoralizing, than the labour in 
the best of coal-mines." '' As a body, the manufacturers 
are wealthy — clever — have extensive business connexions ; 
but their political interest is the most feeble of that of 
all branches of commercial industry, for they have allowed 
their accumulated riches to entomb them. They have 
huge factorj'-like houses within the sound of their ma- 
chinery, dinners of puzzling variety, equipages, servants, 
ever}' thing of the costliest and best to administer to their 
sensuous wants ; but where are there any indications of 
a refined and generous liberality. The yearly stagnation 
of their incomes generates nothing but a noxious desire 
to have a higher chimney or a bigger mill than their 
neighbours." An opposite line of conduct is desirable 
amongst some masters, and would have been eminently 
conducive to the spread of an harmonizing spirit, in place 



146 HISTORY OE 

of that reckless independent animalism, which, in part, 
characterises the factory population. Generally speaking, 
good feelings have, of late, prevailed betwixt the principal 
employers and the operatives, as was most gratifyingly 
evinced on the occurrence of a splendid festival given by 
Messrs. Harrisons, to their work-people, at Stayley-mill, 
July 24th, 1838. This event was a highly creditable 
instance of well-directed liberality. 

The number of houses in 1823, was about nine hun- 
dred; and in the years 1823-4, 1824-5, from seven to 
eight hundred new houses were built. In the course of 
1827, 1828, 1829, and 1840, seven hundred dwellings 
were erected; and in 1831, upwards of one hundred 
and twenty were raised. — In the latter year, the town 
chiefly consisted of the streets extending from Stamford- 
street, or the New-road, to Grosvenor-street, comprising 
two thousand three hundred and fifty-seven inhabited 
houses. From 1833 to 1837 the town increased rapidly, 
and a number of new streets were formed, in both the 
Dukinfield and Hartshead portions, especially in the 
former, where the buildings extend partly on the side of 
Hough-Hill. In the above period, about four hundred 
houses were built. The number of houses in 1836, 
amounted to 2982 ; the number in the present year is 
estimated to be about 3100. 

It is a principle in political economy, almost as un- 
erring as the descent of water in physics, that population 
follows prosperous trade ; and hence Stalybridge has 
increased within the last ninety -two years, from 140 to 
21,000 souls. 



STALYBRIDGE. 147 

In 1823, the population was 5500 ; in the course of 
the succeeding two years there was a most extraordinary 
increase, partially owing to the settlement of a considerable 
number of Irish families, who were attracted hither by 
the prospect of better wages than were to be obtained in 
their own country. — In 1825, the population appears to 
have been at least 9000. 

In 1831, the first satisfactory census of the population 
within the police limits was taken. The following were 
its results: — persons, 14,216; males, 6625; females, 
7591; inhabited houses, 2357 ; families, 2629 ; families 
employed in trade, 1949; in agriculture, 23; in other 
occupations, 657 (this is obviously too high a number) ; 
males upwards of twenty years of age, 2976 ; men em- 
ployed as excavators, labourers, builders, &c., 1997. 

In 1836, the condition of the people of Stalybridge 
was accurately ascertained by a statistical survey, effected 
at the instance of the Manchester Statistical Society. 
At that time the population was estimated at 17,200; 
the number of dwellings examined was 3313, of which 
2587 were hou^es ; 670 sitting-rooms ; 56 cellars ; 29 
old public-houses ; and 10 beer-shops. The number of 
persons inhabiting houses, was 12,345; rooms, 670; 
cellars, 56. The number of persons who could read and 
write, was 4484; read only, 4188. The heads cf 
families belonging to the Church of England, were 769; 
lodgers of the same profession, 95. Heads of families of 
Dissenters, 917 ; lodgers of the same profession, 169. 
Heads of families of Catholics, 455; lodgers of the same 

o 



148 HISTOBY OF 

profession, 436. Heads of families not making any 
religions profession, 1174; lodgers of similar opinions, 
588. — Ninety per cent, of the population were of the 
working class. 

In the month of August, 1840, the Catholic popula- 
tion within the police limits of Stalybridge, amounted to 
3665,^' of whom 2184 were upwards of thirteen years of 
age. — The population, in 1841, was estimated to amount 
to from 20,000 to 21,000, forming an increase of about 
7000 since 1831. 

The Huddersfield Canal provides the tovvn with the 
benefits of inland navigation ; and it is to be hoped that 
a branch of the Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, and 
Sheffield Railway will be shortly extended to Stalybridge. 

The places of public worship have nearly all been 
built during the present century. The old Episcopal 
Chapel was erected in 1776, by subscription; but being 
badly constructed, the w^alls gave way May 15th, 1778, 
and the present structure was shortly afterwards erected. 
It is dedicated to St. George ; but, owing to the recent 
building of a new church, at a short distance to the west, 
this singular edifice has been entirely superseded as re- 
gards the celebration of divine service, but it is still 
occasionally used as an oratory for the adjacent burial 
ground. The old chapel being in the octagon form, its 
interior is remarkably light and elegant, and the elevated 

* Communication of the Kev. J. F. Anderton. 



STALYBKIDGE. 149 

site on which it stands renders the fabric a tine object 
when viewed from the vale of the Tame. The appear- 
ance of the chapel when the hill was clothed with wood, 
and when the few cottages of the village were scattered 
below amidst the exuberant foliage lining the river, 
would be pictm'esque. The interior is decorated by a 
marble tablet, erected and inscribed by the late F. D. 
Astley, Esq., ** to the memory of the Rev. John Ken- 
worthy, B. A., eleven years curate here, who died Aug. 
10th, 1806, aged 34." Beneath this memorial are the 
annexed lines : — 

** And we who boast of strength or thirst for power, 
Or on whose brow fair science builds her throne, 
Must bow before death's desolating hour, 
And in the dust his ruthless empire own." 

The new Chapel or Church of St. Georr/e, is situate 
to the west of Cocker-Hill. It was erected partly by a 
parliamentary grant and subscription, at a cost of £4500.* 
The foundation-stone was laid August 27th, 1838, by- 
Thomas Preston, Esq., and the consecration took place 
June 24th, 1840. The living is a curacy, of the annual 
value of £143, in the patronage of the Rector of Ashton. 
The building is in the early decorated style of Gothic 
architecture, from the designs of Mr. Edmund Sharpe, 
and contains 1200 sittings, of which 500 are free. 

*S*^ Paul's Church is situate in the Stayley portion 
of Stalybridge, and was built by subscription, at a cost 
of £4100 : the site was presented by the Earl of Stam- 

♦ Communication of the Rev. I. N. France. 

2 



150 HISTORY OF 

ford and Warrington. The first stone was laid February 
2nd, 1838, by Lord Combermere, and it was consecrated 
October 9th, 1839. The patronage of the curacy is in 
trustees. — This church is Gothic in the style of archi- 
tecture, which prevailed towards the close of the thirteenth 
century. The architect was Mr. Richard Tattersall. — 
The number of seats is 1006, of which 360 are free. 

St, John's Church, another recent erection, being 
situated in that part of the village of Dukinfield which 
adjoins the town of Stalybridge, it will be described in 
the article Dukinfield. 

The Catholics have a chapel in the part of the town 
which is in Dukinfield. This edifice was commenced in 
June, 1838, and consecrated September 25th, 1839. It 
is dedicated to St. Peter, and was erected by subscription, 
at a cost of about £5000. The architecture is of the 
early lancet style, from the designs of Mr. M. A. Had- 
field. The structure presents a handsome appearance, 
and contains an elegant window of stained glass, 
illustrative of the life of St. Peter. — The number of 
seats is 1400. 

The Methodist JVerv Connexion erected a chapel 
in Chapel-street, in the Hartshead part of the town, in 
1802 ; but this was superseded by a neat and spacious 
chapel in Grosvenor-street, Dukinfield part, which was 
opened November 11th, 1832. 

The Wesleyan Methodists had formerly a meeting- 



8TALYBRIDGE. 151 

room at Cocker-Hill. Their chapel in Caroline-street, 
Dukinfield part, was built 1805, re-edified 1815, en- 
larged 1829. 

The General Baptists held meetini2:s here in 1807. 
Their chapel in Rassbottonij Hartshead, built 1819, 
was superseded by the present edifice in Cross- street, 
Hartshead, erected 1828. 

The Particular Baptists originally worshipped in 
a room near Castle-Hill, about 1813; subsequently they 
had two other rooms. Their present Chapel in Cross- 
Leach- street, Dukmfield-part, was built 1832. 

The Independents opened a meeting-room in 1830; 
but in 1835, they erected an excellent chapel in King- 
street, Dukinfield part. 

The Primitive Methodists commenced a Meeting- 
place previous to 1830. The chapel of this society is in 
Canal-slreet, Dukinfield part, and its date is 1833. 

The Stephenites have a chapel, called Mount Zion, 
near Rossbottom, Hartshead, which they opened about 
1835-6. This place of worship was built 1824, and 
once occupied by the Particular Baptists. 

The Local Government of the j)lacc was entrusted, 
for a considerable time, to the constables of the respective 
townships wlieroin the town is situated. — A Lock-up, 
or small prison, was erected in the Hartshead portion in 

o 3 



l02 HISTORY OF 

1824. — The streets requiring due regulation and im- 
provement, a public meeting of the inhabitants, held 
October 22nd, 1827, resolved to apply for an act of 
parliament, in order to enable the ratepayers to appoint 
Commissioners for the directing of the police affairs, &c. 
An act for these purposes was obtained May 9th, 1828, 
and provides that the ratepayers shall annually elect, on 
the first Wednesday in May, twenty-one ratepayers, 
who occupy premises of the yearly value of £50, to be 
Commissioners for cleansing, lighting, and regulating the 
town, erecting a Town-hall, providing a market, &c. 
These provisions have been complied with in a great 
measure. — The police force consists of two salaried and 
four other Constables, appointed by the Commissioners. 
The cost of the police for the year ending June 24th, 
1840, was £556 5s. 8d. 

A line drawn from the brook west of Ridge-hill, and 
extended over the Tame towards Stayley-mill, then 
diverging west to the foot of Dukinfield-Brow, and then 
north to where the brook below Throstle-Nest joins the 
Tame, will afford a tolerably good definition of the limits 
of the Stalybridge Police Act. A weekly Petit Sessions 
is held. An unsuccessful attempt was made, in 1832, to 
render Stalybridge a parliamentary borough. 

This once obscure village was constituted a market 
town by tlie Police Act, and a Market was established 
weekly, on Fridays, on the oOtli of December, 1831, in 
a spacious Market-House. — Fairs are held here on the 
last Monday in January, second Monday in June, and 
November 5th, 



STALYBRIDGE. 153 

The principal public improvement effected in the town 
of late years has been the formation of a new road, from 
the Old Bridge to Thompson Cross, extending along the 
elevated bank immediately north of the narrow passage 
named Rossbottom. This new avenue is designated 
Stamford-street, and is joined by an improved line of road 
to Saddleworth. From the foot of the new road, the 
whole of the town is seen stretching across the valley, so 
that buildings, mills, and streets extend beneath the eye 
of the spectator. ^* The factories, when lighted, with 
the brilliant gaseous vapour of modern discovery, present, 
in the evenings of the w inter months, a towering illumi- 
nation, of the imposing grandeur of which it is difficult 
to convey an adequate idea.*' From this spot the various 
striking] mansions of the manufacturers are seen to 
advantage, placed chiefly on gentle eminences, in the 
environs of the town. The principal modern seats are 
the following : — The Abbey ^ Abel Harrison, Esq. ; The 
Prior y^ David Cheetham, Esq. ; JFestivood -House ^ 
John Cheetham, Esq. ; Staly Mount, William Harrison, 
Esq. ; Cross-House, David Harrison, Esq. ; Gorse- 
Hall, John Leach, Esq. ; and the mansions of Jeremiah 
Lees, Esq., John Lees, Esq., William Bayley, Esq., 6cc. 

Numerous benefit societies, sucli as the Masonic body. 
Foresters, Druids, kc, and other associations, have been 
fonned, in which provision is made for sickness and old 
age : these institutions are alike highly honourable to 
their founders and supporters. 

The annual holiday termed a Wake, is held here 



154 HISTORY OF 

usually on the third Saturday in July, and several sub- 
sequent days. The amusements of this festival are 
becoming of a more rational nature than they formerly 
were, and yet sports of a brutalising tendency are 
prevalent. 

The town is not possessed of an endowed School ; 
but an Infant School was established in November, 1839, 
in the Temperance-Hall, by subscription, and payments 
from scholars. The number of boys and girls receiving 
tuition is 145. — There are Sunday -Schools^ connected 
with the several places of worship, which are supported 
by voluntary contributions. The number of Sunday 
scholars here in 1823 was 1200; and the sum of £200 
was subscribed for their support in 1824. A Sunday- 
School for Children of all Denominations was formed in 
1815. The Wesleyan Methodists erected, in June, 1825, 
a Sunday-School, in Canal-street, at a cost of £890, 
calculated to accommodate 1200 children. The Methodist 
New Connexion School is spacious, built 1838. The 
Catholics have two schools : the average ages of their 
Sunday Scholars are from 11 to 17 years. The annual 
net outlay for Sunday-School education is about £450. — 
The subjoined tables exhibit the state of these Schools 
here : — 



Episcopal Schools 
Dissenters ,, 
Catholic ,, 



1825. 


1831. 


1841. 


1 


1 


2 


4 


5 


7 








2 



11 



STALYBRIDGE. 155 

1825. 1831. 1841. 

Scholars in Episcopal Schools 160 250 600 

Dissenters „ 1408 2375 2200 

Catholic „ 550 



1568 2625 3350 



Notwithstanding the number and extent of the Sabbath- 
Schools, three-fourths of the children of the poor are 
destitute of efficient day-school education. 

The Charitable Institutions of the place consist of 
Bible and Tract Societies, which are supported by the 
vai*ious religious bodies. The Rev. John Cape Atty 
devised the interest of £100, to be given in clothing to 
poor persons of Stalybridge, every Christmas-Day, by 
the minister and churchwardens of St. George's. 

A Savings* Bank, for the purpose of enabling the 
industrious and provident to prepare for times of need. 
was established here in September, 1828. The sums 
received from depositors in the year ending November 
20th, 1840, were £8632 15s. lOd. ; and the sums with- 
drawn in the same period, were £5602 15s. 4d. The 
number of depositors was 822, and the amount of deposits 
was £24,115 lOs. 2ld. 

The To7vn~Hall and Market-House erected by the 
Police Commissioners, at the cost of the ratepayers, is a 
well-built edifice, in a disagreeable situation, — the base- 
ment stor}- fronting Rassbottom, and tlic upper story 



156 HISTORY OP 

opening to Stamford-street ; the entrance to the Hall is 
surmounted by massive pillars, and altogether that portion 
of the fabric is stately. The market contains ample and 
neatly arranged stalls for butchers, fish dealers, and 
fruiterers. The public-room and a gallery for the sale of 
general wares, are supported by twelve strong columns. 
This public building was commenced in June, 1830, and 
opened with great ceremony December 30, 1831. 

That very necessary and beneficial establishment, the 
Fire-engine House, was erected in 1824, by subscription. 

The " Temperance Hall,' erected 1838, in the 
Dukinfield portion of the town, by subscription, at a cost 
of about £800, consists of a public room of 72 feet in 
length by 39 in width, used for temperance meetings, 
scientific lectures, and a school : half of the cost was 
contributed by the working class. 

The *' Foresters^ Hall^'' also in the Dukinfield part 
of the place, built 1836, by the contributions of six lodges 
of Foresters, at an expense of about £2,200, is appro- 
priated to the holding of Foresters' assemblies, public 
meetings, lectures, &c. The large room, which is provided 
with a gallery and organ, and decorated by a window of 
elegant stained glass, is 72 feet in length by 36 in width. 
A night school for the children of Foresters' is formed. 

The Stalyhridge Mechanics' Institution was esta- 
blished Sept. 7, 1825. It was at first styled "A Society 



STALYBRIDGE. 157 

for Mutual Instruction/' under which modest designation 
the germ of a literary and pliilosophical institution was 
discoverable ; a considerable stock of scientific apparatus 
was rapidly obtained : classes for instruction in arithmetic, 
mathematics, music. Lreology, &c., were formed ; a reading- 
room has been opened in Queen-street, and a lecture-room 
in Shepley-street. The number of members in 1840 was 
64, or only one in every 300 of the population. 

A News-room, well provided with papers, was opened 
in 1825. — There is here a branch office of the Manchester 
and Liverpool District Bank. 

In 1828-9, a Joint-stock Company was established to 
supply the town with gas ; the number of shares was 400, 
and their original value was £25 each. The company 
erected Gas TF^orks, in Acre-lane, Dukinfield, in 1829. 
There are three gasometers ; and, in addition to lighting 
houses and shops, the company receive £400 per annum 
from the Commissioners of Police for lighting the street 
lamps. 

In 1835, a Company was instituted by Act of 
Parliament for supplying the town of Stalybridge, and 
the village of Dukinfield with Water; this association is 
in 600 shares of £20 each. A reservoir of five acres in 
extent has been excavated near Lyon-edge, in Dukinfield, 
and the works were completed October 1, 1840. 

A short time prior to 1825, the old bridge was super- 



158 HISTOKY OF 

seded by an excellent new one, erected at a cost of £4000, 
and approached on the Lancashire side by a new line of 
road. — A bridge entirely of iron was thrown across the 
river near the Town Hall about 1834. In 1831, there 
was a manufactory of fire bricks; formed of the argillaceous 
earth, on the banks of the Tame, near Cocker-hill. A 
petrified tree, the trunk about twelve feet in length, and 
ten or twelve inches in diameter, was discovered in a 
stone quarry, in March, 1831 : it lay in the bed of a rock 
about thirty feet below the surface. 



ck I 

d 



DUKINFIELD, 159 



DUKINFIELD. 



The To^vnship of Dukinfield is within the parish of 
Stockport, in the county palatine and diocese of Chester, 
the deanery and hundred of Macclesfield, in the repre- 
sentative division of North-east Cheshire, — the county 
division polling district of Mottram-en-Longdendale, and 
the magisterial division of Hyde. 

This district is bounded by the river Tame 0:1 the 
north and west. The adjoining districts on the north 
are Ashton-under-Lyne and Hartshead ; and on the west 
Audenshaw and Haughton : on the south it is partly 
separated by a brook from Newton ; and on the east it 
is skirted by Matley and Stayley. The length of the 
township is about two miles and a half, and the breadth 
(;ne mile. The number of computed statute acres is 1690. 

The central and north-west portions of the township 
are occupied by the village of Dukinfield, and the north- 
east part contains the principal portion of the town of 
Stalybridge. The village of Dukinfield is within half-a- 
mile of both of the tov.'ns of Ashton and Stalybridge, and 
the buildings extend close to those of the two towns. 

Dukinfield is supposed to derive its name from the 
r 



160 HISTORY OF 

circumstance of the standard of the Danes having been 
captured here by the victorious Saxons. The figure of 
a raven or dolxcn was impressed on the Danish flag, 
hence the spot was named, in the Anglo-Saxon dialect, 
Dockenveldt^ or the field of the raven. 

Iron-ore appears to have been smelted here in a 
remote age, as, in a field now called the "' Burnt Earth,' 
scoria of that metal has been found in large quantities, 
and some under the roots of old oak trees. — The Tame, 
in the time of the heptarchy, w^as the boundary of two 
kingdoms, which will account for the strong out- works 
of the Old Hall of Ashton, oppot-ed by equally strong 
fortifications on this side. These were situated some 
where on the grounds now occupied by the Lodge ; and 
the mansion of the Saxon proprietors, thus defended, 
stood on a place called the Hall Green. No traces of it 
remain but the name. The hall now called Dukinfield- 
Hall was erected in its stead, and the modern seat of the 
principal family, Dukinfield Lodge was built in the last, 
century. — Aikin terms the place a barony ; but it is a 
portion of the barony of Macclesfield. 

At the earliest period to which records extend, this 
township was included in the fee of Dunham-Massey. 
The third Hamon de Massey confirmed Dukinfield to 
Matthew *de Bromeale (Bramhall), about 1190. The 
family of Dukinfield seem to ha\c held the place in 
fee of the Bramhalls. — Uobcrt de Dokenfield, the first of 
his name on record, was living about 1160; his son 
Hamo's grandson, Robert, was owner here in 1315- 



■DVKIN FIELD. 161 

John de Dokcnticld held flic manor in 1401, of the k)rd 
Bronieale, hy niilitary service. His great grandson, John 
Dokenticld, married Katherine, daughter of Sir John de 
Assheton. Robert Duldniield, Esq., fourth in descent 
from this John, died September 2nd, 1548 ; he held the 
manor from the king, in capite, by military service, at a 
rent of lis. 8d. Robert, his grandson, died 1624, and 
was succeeded by Robert, his son; whose son, Robert, 
born about August, 1619, became a colonel in the service 
of the Parliament. During the civil wars, he opposed 
Prince Rupert, at Stockport, in May, 1644, and was 
High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1649 ; Governor of Chester 
in 1651; Member of Parliament for Chester in 1653; 
assisted in suppressing Sir George Booth's insurrection; 
1659, and received £200 for his services on that occasion. 
He was tried, after the restoration, as one of the officers 
who sat at the trial of the Earl of Derby; but the result of 
the trial is not stated : he appears to have died before 1665. 
His eldest son and heir, Robert, who was created a baronet 
1665, was living after 1713 : and was followed by his son, 
Sir Chas. Dukinficld, Bart., whose son. Sir \Vm., assumed 
the name Daniel, in addition to Dukinfield. He was 
High Sheriff of the county in 1751. After his death, the 
baronetage i)assed to Samuel, son of John, a son of Sir 
Robt. Samuel died issueless, 1768; and thetitle went to 
Nathaniel, son of Nathaniel, son of Robert. Nathaniel's 
eldest son, Sir John Lloyd Dukinfield, Bart., appears to 
be living. Sir William Dukinfield Daniel devised the 
estate of Dukinfield to his lady, Penelope, daughter 
of Heniy Vernon, Esq. She conveyed the property, by 
marriage, to John Astley, Esq., a fellow-pupil with Sir 

r 2 



162 HISTORY OF 

Joshua Reynolds in the art of painting. He was born 
at Wem, in Shropshire, in 1720, and acquired the pos- 
session of Dukinfield about 1767. His first lady died 
issueless. Mr. Astley was descended from the Astleys of 
PatshuU, in Staffordshire, who are described by Sir Wm. 
Dugdale as " an ancierit and honourable family," claiming 
to have sprung from Simon de Montford, Earl of Leices- 
ter. Mr. Astley married secondly, Mary, daughter of 
Mr. Wagstaffe, surgeon, and died November 14th, 1787. 
His widow, a lady of considerable personal attractions 
married secondly in 1793, William Robert Hay, Esq., 
who afterwards became the Rev. W. R. Hay, Vicar of 
Rochdale. The eldest son and heir of John Astley, 
Esq., Francis Dukinfield Astley, Esq., was born at 
Dukinfield-Lodge, July 17th, 1781, and succeeded to the 
estates in 1802. He served as High Sheriff of Cheshire 
in 180!l7- His father had greatly improved Dukinfield. 
but his efforts to contribute to the prosperity of the place 
were equal if not superior to those of his parent. He was 
a liberal promoter of the fine arts, particularly painting. 
His poetical talents were much superior to the standard 
of mediocrity in that line of composition. He printed a 
small volume of poems for private circulation, and a piece 
entitled " Varni-shando," which is a severe exposure of 
the tricks of low dealers in pictures. Several of the 
unpublished songs are full of rich humour and a racy 
pleasantry. — In his younger days, he was much attached 
to the sports of the field ; and, for the purpose of occa- 
sional festive enjoyment, a building, named " Hunters' 
Tower," was erected in a high situation, on the eastern 
side of the township. This edifice was opened February 



11 



DUKINFIELD. 16S 

27th, 1807. Mr. Astley was highly distinguished for 
his good nature and kindness to all classes. He addressed 
the following poetical reply to a lady who wished him to 
leave the place of his birth to reside elsewhere, because 
his estate was situated in a manufacturing district: — 

" Thou maj-'st say that this land is by commerce dcbas'd, 
That its people, its manners, its customs are rude, — 
Should the love then of home from the breast be eras'd, 
Because our poor neighbouj's must toil for their foodT" 

Mr. Astley married in 1812, Susan, daughter of Roger 
Fyshe Palmer, Esq., and died suddenly July 23rd, 1825. 
He left a son, Francis Dukinfield Palmer Astley, who is 
yet a minor. The property is, at present, held in trust 
by Thomas Gisbourne and Samuel Ashton, Esqrs. — 
William Astley, Esq., a natural son of the late Mr. 
Astley, resided at Dukinfield -Lodge several years. 

It is remarkable, that this valuable domain has, since 
the earliest records, always passed by hereditary descent, 
or by will. Dr. Hibbert relates a singular adventure to 
have occurred to one of the Dukinfields : — A tenant's 
boy, on the death of his father, was driving an only cow 
to the manor house of Dukinfield. He was met by the 
lord of the place, with whose person and rank he was 
unacquainted, who questioned him whither he was taking 
the beast. '* I am driving it as far as Dukinfield for the 
heriot,** replied the boy; '^ My father is dead, — we are 
many children, — and have no cow but this, — don't you 
think the devil will take Sir Robert for a heriot when he 
dies ?" The lad was fortunately addressing a humane 
landlord. " Return home," said the baronet, " take the 

p 3 



164 HISTORY OF 

COW back to thy mother ; I know Sir Robert, — I am 
going to Dukinfield myself, and I will make the matter 
up with him." 

Diikinjield Old Hall was originally built in the 
Norman era ; but the gabled front and frogged pinnacles 
of the present edifice denote it to be a structure of the 
reign of Henry VIII. The building was formerly large, 
of quadrangular form, the walls of timber and plaster, 
suiTounded by a moat, which is even yet partly remain- 
ing. This house continued to be the abode of the 
Dukinfields till the last century. In 1794, they were 
spoken of with much respect by the aged inhabitants. 
The hall is now become a dilapidated dwelling. — A 
domestic chapel anciently adjoined the mansion. This 
chapel is noticed elsewhere. 

Dukinjield-LiOdge is a modern house, delightfully 
situated on a woody eminence, overlooking the Tame, — 
in front is a terrace, alongside a precipitous rocky slope, 
which is clothed with shrubs ; adjacent is a large grove, 
penetrated by several retired walks. The beauties of 
the place have given rise to a poem, by Mr. William 
Hampson, published in 1793. He thus sketches the 
scenery of this spot : — 

" AVhere, trickling down the moss-grown mountain's side, 
From dripping rocks the murm'ring waters glide, 
Springs o'er their bosoms in soft eddies creep, 
Commix their rills, and with each other weep ; 
There Tame supplies his urn, and down below, 
As the vale slopes, his current gives to flow. 
Till soon arriving, HunclifF's rocks to lave, 
In rude cascades descends the broken wave. 



Dl^KINFIELD. 165 

There lip the steep, -vvith native oak o'ergrown, 
Frowns tlie dark fir-tree, on tlie rugged stone ; 
A lighter green the poplar leaves o'erspread, 
And, ting'd more lightly, bends the laieh's head." 

The mansion was erected by John Astley Esq., but the 
design has not been fully executed. The most interesting 
room is octagon in form; it is decorated by stained glass, 
and here was a portion of the valuable collection of pic- 
tures acquired by the two Astleys, father and son, the 
former of whom was an eminent artist. The lodge is, 
at present, occupied by Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P. 

An Episcopal Chapel was erected adjacent to the 
Old Hall, by John de Dokenfield, to whom it was licensed 
as a private oratory in 1398. The succeeding edifice of 
the chapel is yet remainhig, but in a state of decay and 
neglect. The architecture indicates it to have been built 
in the reign of Henry VH. This small place of worship 
forms a wing of the Old Hall, and does not appear to 
have been otherwise than domestic, although it is included 
by Sir Peter Leycester, amongst the chapels of ease in 
Stockport Parish, and is inserted as such in the present 
official catalogue. '^-^ After the Reformation of the Church 
it is probable its e])iscopal jurisdiction was never renewed; 
yet the Dukinhelds continued its use for family devotion, 
and appointed their own chaplains, until Col. Dukinfield 
and his successor promoted the prevalence of dissent. 
Here were buried some of the later l)ranches of the local 
family, whose tomb-stones, with perfect inscriptions, were 
remaining in 1793.t None of these reHcs arc now visible. 

* Leycester's Cheshire : Ormerod's ditto, f Aikin's Manchester. 



166 HISTOBY OF 

A new Episcopal Chapel^ dedicated to St. John the 
Evangelist, was founded on the 27th of August, 1838, 
by Lord Viscount Combermere, with much ceremony. 
This recent erection is situate on a commanding eminence, 
in the part of Dukinfield adjoining Stalybridge, and was 
consecrated May 24th, 1841. The living is a curacy, 
in the patronage of the Rector of Stockport. The number 
of seats is 1200, of which 605 are free. The edifice is 
plain but neat, and its cost about £4000, was defrayed 
by parliamentary grant and subscriptions. 

The eminent founder of the Quakers, George Fox, 
is conjectured to have first commenced his itinerant 
preachings at Dukinfield, in 1647. (Fox's Diary, v. 1, 
p. 97.) The house in which early meetings of the Friends 
were held was standing in 1 825. 

Colonel Dukinfield having become acquainted with 
vSamuel Eaton, a popular preacher of the Pi^eshyterians 
at Chester, he induced him to settle at Dukinfield, in 
1650, where he formed a society shortly afterwards. 
Eaton vrrote a work entitled '' The Mystery of God 
Incarnate." Tradition can yet point out the place, in a 
neighbouring wood, where, on days set dpart, under the 
watch of sentinels, and at night-fall, when they were less 
likely to be observed, the proscribed presbyterian minis- 
ters were met by their faithful adherents ; when the pious 
service of prayer, pi'aise, and exhortation, had no other 
walls to surround it than the oaken thicket, and no other 
roof for its protection but the canopy of heaven.^ Imme- 

* Monthly Rei)ository of Theolog}^ and General Literature, toI. 
18, p. 081 ; Tol. 20, p. 518. 



DITKINFIELD. 167 

diately after the passing of the Act of Toleration, in 1C89, 
an outhouse of the Rev. Samuel Angier, who resided in 
Dukinlield, on an estate called *' Anglers Tenement," 
was converted into a Presbyterian meeting-house, and 
licensed under the Toleration Act. Mr. Angier became 
the minister, and the Dukinfield fiimily were members of 
his congregation. By the contributions of Sir Robert 
Dukintield and other principal members of the society, a 
chapel, well known as the '• Old Chapel," was erected in 
1707, as appeared by an inscription over the southern 
entrance. A vestry and an organ-gallery were erected, 
and the cemetery enlarged a few years ago, principally 
by the liberality of F. D. Astley, Esq., who conveyed 
the premises to trustees in perpetuity. It is said that 
the Rev. W. R. Hay, late Yicar of Rochdale, endeavoured 
in vain to render this chapel episcopal, and was not very 
scrupulous in the means which he took in attempting 
to effect his object. Several families of the first respec- 
tability in the neighbourhood are members of the congre-. 
gation. In 1838, a subscription fund for the re-erection 
of the chapel was formed ; and on the 26th of June, 1839, 
the first stone of the present structure was laid by Samuel 
Ashton, Esq., of Pole Bank. The re-opening took place 
August 26th, 1840. The minister's stipend partly arises 
from a freehold estate of about thirty-three statute acres, 
which was the gift of Mr. James Heywood, in 1714, to 
the pastors of the chapel. A curious register is extant 
in the hand -writing of the Rev. Samuel Angier; it 
contains numerous notices of remarkable events which 
occurred in his time. He is commemorated by a beautiful 
Latin inscription, on a tomb in the chapel-yard, and died 



16 HTSTOUY 

November 8th, 1713. His successor in the ministry was 
the Rev. William Buckley, a highly respected and virtuous 
man, who in a MS. note described his congregation to 
consist of the following classes. — ''baronet, 1; esquire, 1 ; 
gentlemen, 12; tradesmen, 16; yeomen, 76; late comers, 
labourers, servants, &c., 687 — 793, votes for members 
for the county, 96." Mr. Buckley was minister nearly 
forty years, and died May 26th, 1752. At a subsequent 
period, his only son^ the Rev. William Buckley, held tlie 
ministry about twenty -nine years, with great credit. He 
died April 29th, 1797. The present minister is the Rev. 
R. Brook Aspland, M. A. The Old Chapel was an 
ordinary edifice. The present structure is a massive 
and rather incomplete specimen of the early English style 
of architecture ; its plan is cruciform, and the interior is 
much admired. The cost of re-erection was about £4000. 
The architect w^as R. Tattersall, Esq., of Manchester. 
The number of seats is 977, of which 194 are free. On 
the east side of the cemetery is a mausoleum, erected in 
1826, to the memory of F. D. Astley, Esq. It is elegantly 
constructed, and exceeds 14 feet in height ; the cost was 
about £280. The chapel is decorated by monuments 
commemorating John Astley, Esq., and William Hampson, 
Esq. The latter died November 18th, 1834. He pos- 
sessed creditable literary attainments, and was an active 
magistrate. The only remaining memorial of the Duk- 
infields is a tomb of William Dukinfield, of Castle-hill, 
Esq. (See Stalybridge.) There are inscriptions recording 
Thomas Harrison, of Stalybridge, Esq., died September 
6th 1 820 ; and John Lees, also of Stalybridge, Esq., died 
August 25th, 1824. The situation of this interesting 



DUKINFIELD. 169 

place of worsliij) is upon a coinnianding einincnce, forming 
the highest part of the village, and rendering the cliapel 
a striking object from various parts of the vale of the Tame. 
The i)rospect from Chapel-hill overlooks a pleasing and 
populous couutiy. 

The United BreihreiK or Moravians, formed a 
small society here in 1743 ; but their meeting-house ^vas 
not completed till 1751. and the choir houses in 1757. 
The chapel was built at the sole expense of Mr. William 
Walker ; and a donation of half the cost of the original 
' dilice was made by Mr. Barham. The chapel was 
riilarged in 1774, by the libeiality of Mr. Walker. The 
adjacent buildings were then inhabited by an industrious 
)rderiy society of ^Moravians ; but, owing to misunder- 
standings with Mr. Astley, respecting the leasing of the 
premises, the principal part of the sect erected the village 
of Fairfield, near Manchester, to which they removed in 
1785. The llev. Benjamin La Trobe, a most amiable 
and excellent religious writer, was once the minister here. 
He died, November 29th, 178G. There is still a society 
of Moravians at Dukinfield. 

The Calviniats' chapel, named Providence, was 
•reeled by the Independents, in 1806; but, in 1820, it 
was first occupied by a society of Secessionists from the 
Church of Scotland. The buildiiig is now a Calvinists' 
chapel. 

The Indcpcndcnta have a chapel near Dukinlleld 
Hall, erected in i8o9. 



170 HISTORY OF 

The .Yew Connexion Methodists built a small place 
of worship in Town-lane, in 1835; but on the 17th of 
April, 1840, the first stone of their handsome chapel, 
named Bethesda, was laid. The style of its architecture 
is early English, and its extent is 81 feet in length by 51 
feet in width. The estimated cost was £2000, defrayed 
b)' subscriptions. 

The Catholics have a neat chapel near Astley-street. 
The erection was commenced in March, 1825, and the 
opening occurred in November following. It is of the 
Grecian order, and the dedication is to St. Marie. 

The Wesley an Methodists'^ chapel is a small edifice, 
erected in 1836. 

The Primitive Methodists' possess a diminutive 
place of worship, raised in 1836. 

The Local Government of this populous township 
is partly entrusted to four constables, nominated by the 
rate-payers, and appointed at the Court Leet for the 
Macclesfield Hundred, and partly to a constable appointed 
by the Magistrates of the Hyde division. The magisterial 
constable receives a salary of £50 per annum from Dukin- 
field, and he acts for Dukinfield and Newton. He is 
appointed pursuant to the Cheshire Constabulary Act, 
whicli took effect in 1831. The expenditure for police 
purposes during 1840-1 w^as £68. About four years ago, 
efforts were made to introduce here the provisions of the 
general lighting and watching act ; but these attempts 



DXTKINFIELD. 171 

failed. The shops and mills are partially lighted by the 
Ashton and Stalybridge Gas Companies ; and water is 
supplied by the Dukinfield and Stalybridge Water Works 
Company. (See Stalybridge.) 

The transition of Dukinfield from a retired woody 
acrricultural district to a populous town-like manufacturing 
village, has been wrought in the course of sixty years, 
owing, in a great measure, to the establishment of cotton- 
manufactories. The ample supply of fuel and the abun- 
dance of water, combined with the improvements effected 
by John Astley, Esq., in the erection of a large Iron 
Foundry, and of the houses called the Circus ; in building 
two bridges over the Tame, one at Stalybridge, and the 
I . other near the Lodge ; repairing the roads, rearing an 
I " Inn, and forming a reservoir, rendered the place a pros- 
perous village in the latter part of the last century. Two 
cotton-mills were erected a short time prior to 1794. 
There were four of these manufactories in 1814 ; six in 
1818; and seven in 1825; at present there are eleven 
cotton-mills, possessed by seven firms ; these estimates 
relate to Dukinfield proper, considered apart from Staly- 
bridge. Two of these manufactories employ about 2700 
hands, the total number of cotton-mill hands in Dukinfield 
is about 5000. The early cotton-mills of this place 
appear to have been ill-regulated, and disagreeable work- 
shops, for Dr. Aikin remarks in 1794, that the pernicious 
t practice of working the mills night and day prevailed, so 
that the constitutions of the workers were debilitated, 
the growth of many retarded, and the rate of mortality 
alarmingly increased. Happily for the present genera- 

Q 



I i'Z HISTOKY OF 

tiou the factoiT system has been materially improved of 
lato years, as regards due consideration for the health of 
the workers, but unhappily their pecuniary means are not 
often judiciously used. 

The district is much benefitted by the Peak Forest 
and Huddersfield Canals ; and further improved by the 
Manchester and Sheffield Railway, which passes near 
Dukinfield Hall, a distance of three quarters of a mile 
from the centre of the village. The increase of inhabited 
houses in Dukinfield from 1821 to 1831, was 1688; 
the increase from 1831 to 1841 was 1517. These estimates 
include Stalybridge. 

The Lakes is a retired agreeable abode of Mr. Taylor, 
Tlie mansions of the Lees and (late) Davis families, border- 
ing Hall Green^ are neat residences. The house erected 
by Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P., in the vale of the Tame, 
is now occupied by the Rev. Joseph Taylor, A. M. 
Early Banks Wood is a singular and solitary dwelling 
on the side of Hough Hill. 

The number of families in Dukinfield, inclusive of part 
of Stalybridge, in 1794, was 252, and of persons, about 
1134. In 1801, the population was 1737. In 1811, 
the inliabited houses were 497 ; families, 502 ; houses 
building, 1 ; uninhabited, 25 : families in agriculture, 
IG; in trade, 405: males, 1476; females, 1577; persons, 
3053. In 1821, the inhabited houses were 777 ; families, 
'^73 , houses building, 42 ; houses uninhabited 16 : 
families in agriculture, 85 (this is obviously inconsistent 






DITKIXFIELD. 173 

\vith fact); families in trade, 369 (this is clearly erroneous 
as compared with 1811) : males, 2517 ; females, 2579 ; 
persons, 5096. In 1831, the inhabited honses were 2465 > 
families, 2690 ; houses building, 68 ; f\\milies in agriculture, 
88 (this is too high a number) ; families in trade, 1446 (this 
is about 1000 deficient in accuracy) : males, 6939 ; females, 
7742 ; persons, 14,681 : forming an increase of 9585 in ten 
years. In 1836, the state of Dukinfield was statistically 
investigated. The population of the place, considered 
separately from Stalybridge, was estimated in that year 
at 8600 ; the number of dwellings examined was 1690, 
of which 1434 were houses, 224 sitting rooms, 32 cellars ; 
the proportion who could read and write was 2380, read 
only 2112. The heads of families belonging to the 
Church of England, were 415, lodgers of the same opinions 
94 ; heads of families of Dissenters 545, lodgers of same 
opinions 99 ; heads of families of Catholics 50, lodgers 
of same opinions 46 : heads of families without any 
religious professions 680, lodgers of same opinions 269. 
In 1841 the inhabited houses in the entire township, 
amounted to 3982 ; uninhabited houses, 431 ; houses 
building, 26, The average number of inmates to each 
house is 55; the total of persons is 22,385, indicating 
an increase of 7704, during the last ten years. The 
present population of Dukinfield exclusi^ e of the portion 
included in Stalybridge is upwards of 10,000. The 
value of all the property in the township, was assessed in 
1815, at £9859 per annum; in 1840-1, £48,300. 

^* The length of life must formerly have been remarkable 
here, if we may judge by the following complaint of 

Q 2 



174 KISTOHY OV 

shortness of days, in an epitaph on a person aged seventy- 
one, buried in the Old Chapel yard : 

All ye that do behold this stone, 
Pray think how quickly I was gone ; 
Make haste, repent, no time delay, 
Lest Death as soon snatch you away/' 

In the latter part of the seventeenth century a well 
conducted school existed here, under the superintendence 
of a Mr. Barlow ; a few years subsequently a school was 
erected near the Old Chapel, this institution flourished 
very much, particularly during the mastership of Domini 
Gee, whose son's widow was living in the village in 1823, 
at the age of 101 ; about seventy years ago, the school 
was taken down, to give the chapel all the advantages of 
its peculiarly fine situation. In 1810 a spacious and well- 
built Sunday School^ named Dukinfield School, was 
erected by subscription, in connection with the Old 
Chapel, and this still remains the principal Sunday School 
in the township, it is decorated by a portrait of the Rev. 
Thomas Barnes, D. D. Sunday Schools are also attached 
to the other places of worship ; that of the Independents 
at Furnace-hill was built in 1825. The Dissenters 
educate about 1700 Sunday scholars, and the Catholics 
300. Dukinfield is in the Ashton-under-Lyne poor-law 
Union; the gross amount of Poor's Rate levied in 1839, 
was £1103 17s. 3d. 1840, £1549 Os. lOd. In 1702, 
Dr. Daniel Wilde, devised £50, far the relief of poor 
aged persons, the interest is applied by the feoffees in 
gifls of small sums to the aged poor. In 1708, an un- 
known person left £5 for the same purpose. The Inde- 
pendents and Moravians have Bible Societies, 



DUKINFIELD. 



175 



The Village Library is a most excellent institution, 
established in 1833, and consisting of a Library of about 
11 00 volumes, which are supplied to members for the 
low charge of one penny per week, the number of con- 
tributors is 158, chiefly of the operative class; it is mucii 
to be wished that its advantages were fully appreciated. 

The Land is principally good pasture and meadow, 
the manure is chiefly lime, with marl on the lighter 
grounds; the average rent of farm land is about £3 10s. 
per acre. Dukinfield is rich in mineral treasures, that 
yield a considerable revenue. Iron ore has been found 
rather plentifully, and seems to have been smelted at a 
remote period. Coal is abundant, for there are fifty 
separate beds or veins, the greatest portion of them 
workable. Aikin says the coal-pits are from 60 to 105 
yards in depth, according to the bearing of the strata. 
One of the present pits is 350 yards in depth : there are 
now seven collieries, employing about 150 men and boys. 
The stone of Harrop Edge quarry is tolerably excellent. 
A superior clay convertible into fire-bricks has been met 
with. A petrified tree has been discovered in Newton 
Brook. 



q3 



176 GENERAL SUMMARY. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



The towns of Asliton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and 
Dukinfield, appear to extend over a space of about 
1400 statute acres. They contain the following places 
of Avorship : — 



Episcopal . . 


Ashton. 
2 


Stalybridge. 
2 


Dukinfield. 
1 


Total 

5 


Dissenters. . 


8 


7 


7 


22 


Catholic .. 





1 


1 


2 



10 10 9 29 

The parish of Ashton contains Episcopal Churches and 
Chapels 5, Dissenters 18. 

The number of Cotton-mills is as follows : — 
Ashton. Stalybridge. Dukinfield. Total. 

33 32 11 76 

The parish of Ashton contains 82 Cotton-manufactories. 
The number of Cotton-mill workers is : — 

Ashton. Stalybridge. Dukinfield. Total. 

7000 9000 5000 21,000 

In the parish of Ashton 12,000. — The population of the 
three towns may be thus compared : — 

Ashton. Stalybridge. Dukinfield. Total. 

1831.. 14,670 .. 14,216 .. 7,000 .. 28,886 
1841.. 22,686'^.. 20,000 .. 10,000 .. 52,686 

• The population of Ashton })arisl], of Dukinfield, and part of 
Stuley, is 71,728. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 177 

A highly interesting statistical inquiry into the popu- 
lation of Ashton, Stalybridge, and Dukinfield, was made 
in 1835-6, when the aggregate population was estimated 
at 47,800 ; the number of dwellings examined was 8838, 
of which 6170 were houses, 1521 sitting-rooms, 147 
cellars, 105 public-houses, 124 beer-houses: the number 
of persons inhabiting houses was 33,845 ; rooms, 1521 ; 
cellars, 147 : the number of persons able to read and 
write, was 1 1.587 ; only able to read, 10,634. The heads 
of families who professed to belong to the Church of 
England, were 2701, and lodgers of similar opinions, 
212: heads of families professing to be Dissenters, 2086, 
and lodgers of similar opinions, 407 : heads of families 
professing to be Catholics, 904, and lodgers of similar 
opinions 772 : heads of families not making any religious 
profession, 3147, and lodgers of similar opinions, 1441. 

The state of the Sunday Schools in 1841, will appear 
from the following tables : — 





Ashton. ^ 


>taly bridge. ] 


Dukinfield 


Total 


Episcopal . . 


2 


2 


1 


5 


Dissenters. . 


6 


7 


7 


20 


Catholic . . . 





2 


1 


3 



11 9 28 



Episcopal Scholars 2400 


600 


100 


3100 


Dissenters" ., 2"27o 


2200 


1700 


G175 


Catholic 


550 


300 


850 



4675 3350 2100 10,125 



The number of Sunday-Schools in Ashton parish, is 29 : 

total of Scholars, 10,031. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Abbey 153 

Accitlent, awfiil 56 

Acres, number of. .4, 159, ]76 
Advantages of Locality . . 93 

Agriculture 114, 175 

.\lt 129 

,\lt-Edge 61, 129 

- HiU 128 

Higher 129 

Andrews's 125 

Angier, Rev. S 167 

Antiquities, Druidical .... 9 

■ other, 123, 128, 139, 160 

Antique Cottage 132 

Atty Cape, Rev. J 155 

Arms of Ash tons, &o 7 

Assheton, Orme de 12 

Sir John 14 

Su- Robert 15 

SirT.,alchymist 19 

Sir R., Blk. Knight 48 

of Shepley 122 

of Luzley" 134 

Ash ton rendered a Borough 74 

Canal 89 

Railway 92 

and Stalybdg. Bank 114 

Moss 120 

Astley, J., Esq. 161-2, 165, 171 

F. D., Esq. . 162-3, 167-8, 

Atmosphere 121 

Audenshaw 122, 125 

Lodge 124 

Baptists 68, 151 

Baptisms 99 

Banks, sketch of 111, 157 

Barham, Mr 169 

Barlow, Mr 174 

Bardsley-House 9, 127 

Beckett, Rev. J 130 

Bible Societies 107, 155 

Births, registered 100 

Blaok Lad, riding the . .45, 49 



PAGE 

Boardman-Edge 119 

Booth, Sir William 22 

Sir George 23 

Lord Delamere . . ib. 

Dame 106 

House 125 

Borough 6 

Bomidaries .... 75 

Electioneering . . ib. 

Bottoms 137 

Boundaries 3 

Bradford, the Martyr 51 

Bravery of Sir T. Ash ton 46 
Bridge at Stalybr. 137, 139, 140 

Brown, Lieutenant ...... 64 

Brown-Edge Quarry 116 

Buckley, Rev. W., sen, &jun. 168 

Buckley-Hill 124 

Bull-foot-lane End 131 

Burials 99 

Butterworth, James 131 

Byron's 124 

Calvinists 169 

Canals 89,91,125,130,136,171 

Canute 11 

CasUe-HiU 140 

Catholics 67, 148, 150, 154, 170 

Chadwick's 128 

Chalybeate Spring 121 

Chapel, Old 167 

Charities 106, 155, 174 

Chetwode, Rev. G 62 

Church, Parish 57 

Fires 57-8 

Rectors 59 

Civil Wars 60 

Registers 62, 99 

general state .... 63 

Claydon's 128 

Cinderland-Hall 124 

Condition of Working Class 87 
C'orn-niill of the Manor . . 43 
Cotton Manufiicture. . . .80, 84, 

142, 171 



INDEX. 



11. 



PAGE 

Coimty Rates 105 

Courts, Manor r)0, 00 

Court-Hoiise 108 

Craddock, Rev. J 02 

Crime Reservoir 90 

Cross-Bank 131 

House 153 

Currier-lane 50 

Curious anecdote 1()3 

Custom Roll and Rental.. 33 

sin^ilar 134 

Deaths, Rei^istered 100 

Causes of 101 

Deanshut 1*^9 

Deeds, ancient 128 

Dissenters' Chapels 17(5 

Dissent, its origin, &c. . . . 100 

District Bauk 113 

Divisions 4 

Division, Map^isterial .... 72 

Dimt^eous, Old Hall 28 

Druids 

Dukinfield 159 

Family 141 

Old Ciiapel . . 105-7 

New Church 150, 100 

Old Hall . . 100, 104 

Colonel 101, 100 

Sir R 103 

Lodge 104 

Police Affairs . . 170 

P^ARLYBANKS WoOD .... 172 

Earthquake 52 

Eaton, Rev. S 100 

Education, state of 103 

Statistics 104 

Engines, Steam. . . .82, 84, 135 
Episcopal Chapels . . 130, 135, 

148-9, 1G5-G, 176 

Epitaph, singular 173 

Etymologies . . 7, 11, 122, 127, 
133, 159 

Factory System .... 88, 145 

Fairfax, Henr}-, D.D 60 

Fairboitom 131 

Fairs 79, 131, 130, 152 



PAGE 

Families in Trade 82-3 

Female Benevolent Institute 107 
Feudalism, Characteristics 35 

and Factoi^ism 39 

Fire Engines 150 

BHcks 158 

Foresters'- Hidl 150 

Fossils 117 

Fox, George 100 

Frankpledge, grant of ... . 30 
Friendly Societies .... 101, 153 

Gallows Field 29, 44 

Gamerog-Bank 134 

Gas introduced 56 

- Works 110, 157, 171 

- Buildings 108 

Gee, Domini 174 

Geology 115, 158 

Gorse-Hall 141, 153 

Grey, Henry Earl of Stam- 
ford and Warrington . . 25 

George, „ „ 26 

Earl of, visit of ... . ib. 

Guld Riding 47 

Guising Festivals 37-8 

Hadfield's 124 

Hall, the, its design .... 36 

Green 172 

Rev. S 134 

Hamlets 5 

HaiTison, John 00 

Thomas, Esq. . . 108 

Hampson, Wm., Esq. . 104, 108 
Hartshead 133, 137 

Pike 119, 133 

Harrop's 127 

Hazlehurst 137 

Hay, Rev. W. R 102, 167 

Heriots, lav and clerical . . 39 

Helps, T. W., Esq 75-6 

Hey Chapel 130 

Heyrod-Hall, (fee 134, 137 

House 135 

Health, Board of 107 

Hibhert, Dr 33 

High Ash 123 

Knowls 131 



111. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Hicfginbottom's 129 

Hiils 110 

HincUey, C, Esq., M.P. 75-0, 105 

History 

lloghtoii's 124 

Hooley-Hill 125 

Huddersfield Canal 90, 148 

Ilulme, W., Esq 129 

Hunters' Tower 102 

Huntington, John, B.D. . . 59 

Hurst-Brook 130 

Family .... ib. 

Hurst, Higher ib. 

Nook . . , 137 

Cross ib. 

Hydes 134 

Improvements 153 

Increase of Towns 93 

Independents 07, 151, 109 

Independent Methodists. . 08 

Infant School 154 

Intelligence of Operatives 88 

Iron-ore, Dukinfield. . 100, 175 

Iron Bridge 158 

Israelites 08 

Jailer's Chapel 29 

Johannites 08 

Jurisdictions 3 

KenwortJiy, Bev. J 149 

Knott-Lanes 127 

Knowls-Lane 131 

Lakes 171 

Leach, John 04 

Lees 130 

House ib. 

Lees's 128 

John, Esq 108 

Tjcngth and Breadth .... 4 

Library, Village 175 

Linie 8 

liime-Hnrst Springs .... 117 

Lime-Spring House .... 130 

Little Moss 120 

Local Government. .09, 70, 151, 

170 



PAGE 

Lock-up, Staly bridge .... 151 

Lowe, John, Esq 122 

Lusley 137 

Lusley-End 134 

Machinery, opposition to . 81, 

142-3 

Magistrates, present .... 71 

Manners 102 

Manor Tenures ........ 20 

Manorial Rights, &c 29, 45 

Laws, &c 43-4 

Mannow's, of Shepley. . . . 122 
Manufacturing Population 80, 

144 

Marriages 99, 100 

by Magistrates . . 02 

Markets 78, 152, 155 

House 97 

MayaU's 131 

Mayors, List of 78 

Election of 09, 70 

Medlock Rivulet 118 

Vale 125 

Meeting for Representation 73 
Mechanics' Institutions . . 108, 

131, 130, 150, 175 

Mills, Cotton, progress of 82, 

143-4, 171 

number of 170 

Missionaiy Societies .... 109 

Modern Mansions 95 

Moravians, Dukinfield. . . . 109 

Mortality, rate of 100 

Mosdelee 134 

Mossley 136 

Chapel 135 

New Connexion Methodists', 
08, 125, 130, 135, 150, 154, 170 

News Room 157 

Norman Lords 12 

North-street 120 

Old Chapel, Dukinfield 105-7 

Re-building 107 

Situation.. 108 

Old Hall 20-7, 30 

Operatives, Cotton-mill 82-3,170 



INDEX. 



IV. 



PAGE 

C)niie (le Assslieton l*i 

Paintings, Aiuient 124^ 

Parish ami Manor, size of 11 

Parks, Tlu> ^7, ;U, fX) 

Park Bridire ]'2<) 

Parochial Affairs ll).') 

Pastimes of the People . . 30-7 

Peak Forest Canal J)l 

Peat Moss Ur), 120 

Peter's St., or New Cluirch ()() 

Petritied Tree 108 

PhiUips, Sir Thomas 123 

Pickiords US 

Plants, Rare 121 

Police Act 70, 152 

Commissioners 71, 152 

Eural 71 

Office 100 

Poors' Rates lOo 

Population Retns. 03, i)G, 08, 120 
132, 137, 138, U2, U7, 172, 170 

Posletlnvaite, J 05 

Presbyterians, Dukintield l(iO-8 

Endo^^•ment 107 

C ougi-egution 

classified 108 

Primitive Methodists' 08, 130, 
151, 170 

Prio^^• 153 

Pr(»perty, value of 105 

Providence Chapel. . . . 100, 07 

Quakers at Dukinfield . . 100 
Quarries 110, 175 

Radcliffe, Sir J 12s 

Railways 01, Us, 172 

Rebellion, 1745 52, 123 

Rectory- its value, &c 58 

Red Hall 124 

lient Days, Customs on . . .*J4 

Rents, Average, &c 42 

liepresentatives granted 50, 72 

Re«piests, Court of 72 

Ridge-hill Lane 137 

Rhodes-hill 130 

Hey ih. 

Ringers of Ashton 05 



page 

Rivers 117 

RocherVale 10, 131 

Rocks, Stratified 115 

Roman Roads 8, 10, 130 

Rosshottom 105, 141 

Ryecroft 50 

Saddleworth Bank .... 112 

Sand Deposit 117 

Sandiford's or Sandersons 123 
120 

Saving's Banks 107, 155 

Saxon Lords 12 

Scenery Romantic. .120-7, 131, 

135, 140 
Schools 102, 120, 132, 137, 

154, 174 

Scout MiU 135 

Services of Tenants .... 35, 43 

Sessions, Petit 71 

Setantii, The 

Sheffiehl Railway 01 

Shelmerdine's 134 

Shepley-hall 122 

Singular Names 33 

Bequest 100 

Situation of Parish 3 

Towai () 

Stalvbridge . . 138 

Dukinfield . . . 150 

Smallshaw 137 

Stalvbridge, To>yn of .... 138 

Localities 130, 143 

Eai-lv State 140-41 

142 

Increase 143-44 43 

Intnd. Borough 

73, 15*<! 
Churches, Cha- 
pels, 148-40-50 

Stayley-hall 13JJ 

Family ib. 

Staley-bank .' 135 

' Mr,uiit 153 

Stanrake-hill 110 

Statistical Survpvs 05, 147, 173, 
170 

Stephenites OH, 151 

Stopford's 123 



INDKX. 



PAGE 

Storms, Awful 54, 55 

Summarv, General 17G 

Sundav Schools 54, 103, 126, 
132, 137, 154-5, 174, 170 

Tame, River 8, 11, 117 

Taunton and its Hall 128, 131 

Temperance Hall 150 

Tenants Manor 41 

Thompson Cross 141 

Thornlee 131 

Throstle Nest 50 

ToUs of Market, &c 80 

Top of the Bank 131 

Town of Ashton 

Ancient State 50-2 

Modem State 53-0 

elegance of 54 

Town-Halls 109, 155 

Tract Societies 155 

Trade Tokens 52 

Traffic to Manchester 91 

Trees in Mosses 120 

Tree-House-Bank 129 

Trohe, La, Eev. Benjamin 109 
Twarl-HiU Tythe-Stone . . 134 
Tum-out, gi^eat 50 

Union, Poor Law 105 



PAGE 

Valley 129 

Value of Cotton Trade . . 89 

■ Property 105 

Villages 5 

Volunteers, Ashton 55 

Wakes 51, 153 

Walker, James 106 

John 102 

. William 169 

Walker's 128 

Water-houses 124-6 

Water Works Ill, 157 

Wheels 83-4 

Waterloo 131 

Weavers, Hand-loom .... 89 
Weslevan Methodists. .67, 125, 

130, 150, 154, 170 

Westwood-House 153 

Wliittaker, John, Esq, . . . 137 

Wilshaw-Dale Grove 135 

WiUiams, Geo., Esq 75-6 

Wood-houses 124-6 

Park .. 131 

Workhouse 106 

WooUen Trade .« . . . i41 

Worsted „ ib. 

Worthington, Mr. Hugo , . 27 
Yule Feast 35 



ADDITIONS. 
Page 72. — John Buckley, Esq., qualified as a Magistrate July 5, 1841. 

„ 78. — Nicholas Earle, Esq., is Mayor of Ashton, for 1841-2. 

„ 92. — Tlie Manchester, Ashton-nnder-Lyne, and Sheffield Rail- 
way was opened from Manchester to the vicinitj^ of Ashton-under- 
Lyne, Dukinfield, and Hyde, November 17th, 1841. 

,, 95. — According to a recent investigation of Ashton town, by 
tliat active agent of the Temperance Society, Mr. W. H. Buchanan, 
of Ashton, there were in September, 1841, in Ashton, 13 liquor- 
vaults, 07 public-liouses, and 90 beer-shops. 

^^ lOr).— County Rate for 1841, £'3702 17s. lOd. 

„ 107. — Old Chapel damaged by stomi, January 7th, 1839. 

CORRECTIONS. 
I'age 05, line 12, — for Posethwaite read Poslethwaite. 
„ 89, „ 8,— „ 400,000 „ 700,000. 

„ 167, „ 21,— „ 20th Jime „ 0th June. 



T. A. Phillips, Printer, Ashton. 






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